793 Naval Air Squadron


793 Naval Air Squadron was a Fleet Air Arm naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy which disbanded during October 1945. It was formed in October 1939 at RNAS Ford, as an Air Towed Target Unit, as part of No.1 Observer School. From 1940 to disbandment it operated at RNAS Piarco (HMS Goshawk), Trinidad.

History

Air Towed Target Unit (1939–1945)

793 Naval Air Squadron formed at [HM Prison Ford|RNAS Ford, West Sussex|Ford (HMS Peregrine)], located at Ford, in West Sussex, England, on the 25 October 1939, as an Air Towed Target Unit and operating Blackburn Roc Mk.I aircraft, a British naval turret fighter which was used to tow targets for fighter aircraft training. A detachment was provided at RAF Warmwell, in Dorset, to tow targets for fighter aircraft based at RAF Exeter, in Devon, during August 1940.
On the 18 August 1940, a formation of Junkers Ju 87, or Stuka, dive bombers, attacked RNAS Ford as part of a large Luftwaffe force attacking airfields around Hampshire and Sussex. Twenty-eight personnel were killed and seventy-five were wounded in the raid, which also destroyed seventeen aircraft, damaged twenty-six more and caused significant infrastructure damage. The only part of the squadron to escape destruction was the detachment.
The raid prompted 793 Naval Air Squadron to be stood down and moved to RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus), situated in Hampshire, England, in preparation for sailing to relocate to Trinidad and Tobago, located in the Caribbean, operating from RNAS Piarco, on the island of Trinidad, which began on the 18 November 1940.
The squadron's role was to support the training of observers for the Fleet Air Arm. It formed part of the No. 1 Observer School operating out of, Royal Naval Air Station Piarco, working alongside three Observer Training Squadrons: 749 Naval Air Squadron,750 Naval Air Squadron and 752 Naval Air Squadron. Here, 793 Naval Air Squadron also operated Miles Martinet T.T.1 for target towing, Fairey Fulmar, a British carrier-borne reconnaissance aircraft/fighter aircraft, and Fairey Albacore a single-engine biplane torpedo bomber aircraft.
793 Naval Air Squadron operated from RNAS Piarco for the remainder of the Second World War, finally disbanding there on the 10 October 1945.

Aircraft flown

The squadron has flown a number of different aircraft types, including:

Naval air stations

793 Naval Air Squadron operated from a number of naval air stations of the Royal Navy, both in the UK and overseas:

Commanding officers

List of commanding officers of 793 Naval Air Squadron with date of appointment:
Note: Abbreviation signifies Air Branch of the RN or RNVR.