823 Naval Air Squadron

823 Naval Air Squadron
Active	1933–1945
Country	UK
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Carrier based squadron
Role	Offensive Support
Part of	Fleet Air Arm
Battle honours	Norway 1940

823 Naval Air Squadron was a Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadron before and during World War II.

History

Pre-war

823 squadron was formed on 3 April 1933 by a merger of No's 441 and 448 (Fleet Spotter Reconnaissance) Flights aboard HMS Glorious, a cruiser converted to an aircraft carrier in the 1920s. The new squadron was equipped with Fairey IIIFs and served in the Mediterranean. Following a ship refit the squadron split its aircraft between HMS Courageous and Glorious when they sailed to the Mediterranean in August 1935 in response to the Abyssinian crisis. The squadron, now re-equipped with Fairey Swordfish, was transferred to Admiralty control in 1940.

World War II

In the early part of the war the squadron sailed aboard HMS Glorious into the Red Sea and Indian Ocean to attack enemy shipping, returning to the Mediterranean in Jan 1940. They operated from Hal Far, Malta until March 1940, until they were needed to take part in the defence of Norway. There HMS Glorious was sunk by the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst on 8 June 1940, and half of the squadron (5 aircraft) lost. The remainder flew from RNAS Hatston with 821 Squadron on 21 June 1940 to attack Scharnhorst, with little or no success. On 24 July 1940 they attacked enemy destroyers and shipping off Norway but were disbanded at Hatston in December 1940.

In November 1941 the squadron was reformed at Crail airfield in Fife, Scotland as a torpedo bomber reconnaissance (TBR) Swordfish squadron, subsequently sailing on HMS Furious in August 1942 with 9 Albacores for convoy duties. In September 1942 the squadron was attached to No 16 Group, Coastal Command at RAF Manston and RAF Tangmere for anti-submarine patrols in the English Channel.

In June 1943 the squadron was re-equipped with Fairey Barracuda IIs at Lee-on-Solent and joined the 11th TBR Wing in southern India. They were finally disbanded in July 1944 at Katukurunda Airport after being merged with 822 squadron.

Aircraft operated

Fairey IIIF

Aircraft operated by 823 Naval Air Squadron
From	To	Aircraft	Version	Notes
Apr 1933	Dec 1934	Fairey IIIF		Based aboard HMS Glorious
Dec 1934	Dec 1936	Fairey Seal		Based aboard HMS Glorious
Nov 1936	April 1942	Fairey Swordfish	I
April 1942	May 1943	Fairey Albacore	I
June 1943	July 1944	Fairey Barracuda	II

References

Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadrons

Currently active squadrons	700 703 705 727 736 750 814 815 820 824 825 829 845 846 847 848 849

Inactive squadrons	701 702 704 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 728 728B 728C 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 816 817 818 819 821 822 823 826 827 828 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 840 841 842 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 860 861 870 871 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 1700 1701 1702 1703 1770 1771 1772 1790 1791 1792 1820 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853

Display teams	Fred's Five Simon's Sircus Blue Herons Sharks Black Cats

Other units	Royal Navy Historic Flight

Units in bold subsequently commissioned into Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm

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