802 Naval Air Squadron
| 802 Naval Air Squadron | |
|---|---|
| Active | 3 April 1933–April 1940 21 November 1940–21 December 1941 1 February–15 November 1942 1 May 1945–30 March 1947 1 May 1947–10 December 1952 2 February 1953–22 November 1955 6 February 1956–10 April 1959 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 Royal Navy
|
| Role | Naval Air Defence/Attack |
| Motto(s) |
Prima Ferire (Latin: "First to Strike") |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Fighter |
Hawker Nimrod Hawker Osprey Gloster Sea Gladiator Grumman Martlet Hawker Sea Hurricane Supermarine Seafire Hawker Sea Fury Hawker Sea Hawk |
802 Naval Air Squadron (802 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm.
802 Squadron was formed on 3 April 1933 aboard HMS Glorious by the merger of two independent Royal Air Force naval units, 408 (Fleet Fighter) Flight and 409 (Fleet Fighter) Flight. By 1939, 802 Squadron was operating from HMS Grebe (Dekhelia) in Egypt where, like all Fleet Air Arm units, it was taken over by the Admiralty on 24 May 1939.
In April 1940 802 Squadron was serving aboard Glorious with twelve Gloster Sea Gladiators when the ship was recalled to participate in the defence of Norway. The squadron ceased to exist after Glorious was sunk by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on 8 June 1940 during the defence of Norway.
Reformed from part of 804 Squadron on 21 November 1940 with Martlet Is, the squadron sub-flights embarked on HMS Audacity in July 1941, with B flight serving on HMS Argus in August. In the following month the whole squadron was involved in Gibraltar escort convoys from Audacity from which it shot down four Focke-Wulf Fw 200's. The squadron was lost on 21 December 1941 when Audacity was sunk by German submarine U-751.
The squadron was re-formed at Yeovilton in February 1942 with Hawker Sea Hurricane Ibs, before embarking on HMS Avenger for escorting Arctic Convoy PQ 18 in September during which time five enemy aircraft were shot down and 17 damaged, in conjunction with 883 Squadron. In September, the squadron embarked on Avenger and provided fighter cover on the Algerian invasion beaches. While returning to the UK Avenger was torpedoed and sunk by U-155 on 15 November 1942.
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