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Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Squadron
Military unit
813 Naval Air Squadron
was an aircraft squadron of the
Royal Navy
's
Fleet Air Arm
during
World War II
and again post-war. It initially operated
Swordfish Mk Is
from the aircraft carrier
Illustrious
and took part in the successful raid on Taranto in November 1940.
In July 1943, the squadron was a component of
RAF Gibraltar
but a detachment of its Swordfish (torpedo spotter reconnaissance) was based at
Tafaraoui, Algeria
and assigned to the
Northwest African Coastal Air Force
(NACAF) for
Operation Husky
.
[1]
From April 1944 the squadron, including a detachment of
Wildcats
and three
Fulmar NF II
night fighters,
[2]
were deployed on the escort carrier
HMS Campania
operating in the
Arctic Ocean
on
convoy duty
. On 13 December 1944 two of 813's Swordfish were responsible for the sinking of
German submarine U-365
by
depth charges
.
[3]
Postwar, the squadron was tasked as a
torpedo
fighter unit, initially equipped with
Blackburn Firebrand
aircraft. Between February 1953 and April 1958 the squadron was equipped with turboprop powered
Westland Wyvern
strike aircraft. 813 Squadron disbanded for the last time on 22 April 1958.
[4]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Richards, D. and H. Saunders, The Royal Air Force 1939?1945 (Volume 2, HMSO, 1953).
- ^
Bussy, Geoffrey:
Fairey Fulmar
. Hall Park Books, Warpaint Series. No.41. p. 37-40
- ^
"Royal Navy Research Archive HMS Campania"
.
- ^
Sturtivant, 1994, p.170
- Bishop, Chris (ed)
The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare
Amber Books, Ltd. 2004
ISBN
1-904687-26-1
- Sturtivant, Ray
The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm
Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1994,
ISBN
0-85130-223-8
.
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Active
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Non-flying
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Display team
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Inactive
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