857 Naval Air Squadron

857 Naval Air Squadron
Active	1944-1945 2006-2015
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Carrier based squadron
Role	Airborne Early Warning
Part of	Fleet Air Arm
Garrison/HQ	RNAS Culdrose
Motto	Animis opibusque parati (Latin: "Prepared In minds & resources")
Equipment	Sea King Mk 7
Battle honours	Palembang 1945 Okinawa 1945 East Indies 1945
Commanders
Notable commanders	L/C(A) W Stuart DSC & 2 bars, RNVR

857 Naval Air Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. It was first formed on 1 April 1944 at Squantum NAS in the USA as a torpedo reconnaissance unit with Avenger IIs. It reformed in its present state on 13 December 2006, when 849 Naval Air Squadron B Flight recommissioned as 857 Naval Air Squadron.^[1]

World War II

After the squadrons formation, it returned to the UK in June 1944 and re-trained as an anti-submarine unit. It sailed for the Far East in September 1944 embarked on HMS Rajah and transferring to HMS Indomitable in November 1944.^[1] The squadron attacked targets throughout Sumatra, the East China Sea and Formosa before sailing to Hong Kong on 1 September 1945.

The squadron moved to Australia post war, leaving its aircraft at HMAS Albatross, when it returned to the UK to disband on 20 November 1945.^[1]

Reformation

The unit reformed with the Sea King ASaC.7 on 13 December 2006 at RNAS Culdrose, from 849 Squadron, B Flight. Its first tour of duty was on board RFA Fort Austin for a five-month deployment to the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, with aims of denying the passage of the seas to Al Qaeda, pirates, traffickers and smugglers.^[2] The squadron then headed to NAS Norfolk in Virginia, United States, for exercises with United States Navy fighter planes and carrier battle groups.

857 NAS returned to the Middle East in the first half of 2008, replacing its sister squadron 854 NAS on Operation Calash. It returned to carrying out maritime security operations.^[1] The squadron carried out operations in the North Sea on board HMS Illustrious, testing airborne early warning capabilities.^[3]

In 2011, several of the Sea Kings were stated to be part of the Response Force Task Group.^[4]

Future

857 NAS will be decommissioned in the new year of 2015 and merge with its parent unit to form "Palembang Flight".^[5]

External links

Main Webpage

References

Notes

Bibliography

Sturtivant and Ballance (1994), The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm, Air Britain Publications, 480pp, ISBN 0-85130-223-8.

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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