708 Naval Air Squadron


708 Naval Air Squadron was a Fleet Air Arm naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy which disbanded during February 1946. It formed during October 1944 at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, as the Firebrand Tactical Trials Unit, before moving to nearby RAF Gosport the following January. Tasked with looking into issues distinct to the Blackburn Firebrand the unit also performed deck landing training and torpedo exercises with the aircraft. The squadron moved to RNAS Ford where a number of personnel including the CO provided the core for the formation of 813 Naval Air Squadron, the Fleet Air Arm’s initial operational Blackburn Firebrand unit. The squadron relocated to RNAS Fearn at the beginning of December and then in January 1946 it moved to RNAS Rattray.

History

Firebrand Tactical Trials Unit (1944-1946)

708 Naval Air Squadron formed at RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus) on 1
October 1944, from 'B' Flight of 764 Naval Air Squadron as the Firebrand Tactical Trials Unit. The squadron was equipped with Blackburn Firebrand T.F. II, a British single-engine strike fighter aircraft. The squadron was also equipped with Supermarine Seafire aircraft, a navalised version of the Supermarine Spitfire single seat fighter aircraft, which were used for combat practice versus some of the rocket projectile fitted Blackburn Firebrand aircraft.
In January 1945 the squadron relocated to RAF Gosport. There were a number of problems specific to the Blackburn Firebrand that required further investigation, however, issues such as available aircraft, serviceable aircraft and modifications to the aircraft, caused delays to the investigation activities, this along with the airfield at Gosport being ill-suited to the Blackburn Firebrand. The squadron did manage to undertake Deck Landing trials with the Colossus-class aircraft carrier in the River Clyde during May, and this later continued with the converted armed merchant cruiser HMS Pretoria Castle.
In August the first Blackburn Firebrand TF.Ill variants arrived. Torpedo exercises were conducted daily in Stokes Bay, a body of water on the Solent, via a torpedo collection stop-off at RNAS Lee-on-Solent. In September 708 Naval Air Squadron moved to RNAS Ford (HMS Peregrine), in West Sussex, here the Commanding Officer and several pilots provided a nucleus for the formation of the first operational Blackburn Firebrand unit, 813 Naval Air Squadron. The unit relocated to RNAS Fearn (HMS Owl), in the Scottish Highlands, towards the end of the year and then moved again in early 1946 to RNAS Rattray (HMS Merganser) in Aberdeenshire. 708 Naval Air Squadron disbanded on 26 February 1946.

Aircraft operated

708 Naval Air Squadron operated a couple of different aircraft types and variants:

Naval air stations

708 Naval Air Squadron operated from a number of naval air stations of the Royal Navy, and a Royal Air Force station, in the United Kingdom:

Commanding officers

List of commanding officers of 708 Naval Air Squadron with date of appointment.
Note: Abbreviation signifies Air Branch of the RN or RNVR.