701 Naval Air Squadron

701 Naval Air Squadron
~~701 (Catapult) Flight FAA~~
701 Naval Air Squadron; 701 (Catapult) Flight FAA
Active	1939–1958
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Role	Training and ancillary
Part of	Fleet Air Arm
Battle honours	Norway 1940

701 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron, formed on 24 May 1939, that saw service during the Second World War.

Formed on 15 July 1936 as No. 701 (Catapult) Flight FAA at RAF Kalafrana, Malta by re-designating No. 444 (Fleet Reconnaissance) Flight FAA; 701 Squadron saw action in the Norwegian campaign in mid-1940, and in May six Supermarine Walrus aircraft of the squadron were flown off HMS Glorious to support operations off Harstad.^[2] In June 1940 the squadron briefly appeared on HMS Ark Royal,^[3] and the squadron was at Reykjavík in October 1940, when they were taken on board HMS Argus.^[4]

By July 1943, the squadron was attached to No. 201 Group RAF for the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky).

Aircraft operated[]

The squadron operated a variety of different aircraft and versions:^[5]

Hawker Osprey
Blackburn Shark
Fairey Seal II
Fairey Swordfish I/SP
Supermarine Walrus
Avro Anson C.X
de Havilland Dominie I
Beechcraft Expediter C.I & C.II
North American Harvard III
Airspeed Oxford
Supermarine Seafire XV & XVII
de Havilland Tiger Moth II
Beechcraft Traveller I
Westland Dragonfly HR.5
Westland Whirlwind HAR.1, HAR.3 & HAS.7 & HAS.22

References[]

Citations[]

^ Fleet Air Arm battle honours
^ Naval-history.net, events in May 1940
^ "The Fleet Air Arm aboard Ark Royal". Archived from the original on 30 June 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
^ Naval-history.net, events in October 1940
^ Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 20.

Bibliography[]

Sturtivant, R; Ballance, T (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-223-8.

External links[]

700-795 Naval Air Squadron Index

[1] Fleet Air Arm battle honours

[2] Naval-history.net, events in May 1940

[3] "The Fleet Air Arm aboard Ark Royal". Archived from the original on 30 June 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008.

[4] Naval-history.net, events in October 1940

[FOOTNOTESturtivantBallance199420-5] Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 20.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadrons
Currently active squadrons	700 703 705 727 736 744 750 814 815 820 824 825 845 846 847 1700 1710
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 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 745 746 747 748 749 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 816 817 818 819 821 822 823 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 840 841 842 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 860 861 870 877 878 879 880 881 882 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 1701 1702 1703 1771 1772 1770 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	Simon's Sircus Sharks Black Cats
Other units	Royal Navy Historic Flight
Units in underline subsequently commissioned into Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm Units in italics subsequently commissioned into Marine-Luchtvaartdienst