826 Naval Air Squadron

826 Naval Air Squadron
826 Squadron Westland Sea King HAS.1 based on HMS Eagle in 1970.
Active	March 1940 – August 1943 December 1943 – October 1944 August 1945 – February 1946 ? – November 1955 March 1966 – March 1970 June 1970 – July 1993
Country	UK
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Carrier based squadron
Role	Torpedo Spotter Reconnaissance (TSR)
Part of	Fleet Air Arm
Battle honours	Dunkirk 1940, English Channel 1940–44, Atlantic 1940, Matapan 1941, Crete 1941, Mediterranean 1941–43, Libya 1941–2, Falklands 1982, Kuwait 1991

826 Naval Air Squadron was a Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadron formed during World War II which has been reformed several times since then until last disbanded in 1993.

No. 826 Squadron was formed at RNAS Ford in Sussex as a torpedo bomber squadron equipped with 12 Fairey Albacore biplanes. After initial training it was placed under the operational control of RAF Coastal Command, flying its first mission, a daylight bombing raid against a road junction at Nieuwpoort, Belgium on 31 May 1940. The squadron continued to fly a mixture of convoy escort missions, daylight attacks against German land and sea targets and nighttime patrols against German E-boats until the Albacore was grounded on 3 July 1940 owing to the unreliability of the aircraft's Bristol Taurus engines. This resulted in the Squadron being temporarily re-equipped with the older Fairey Swordfish until the Albacore was returned to use in August. From August to October 1940, the Squadron carried out more convoy escort patrols and raids against barges being massed by the Germans in the Channel ports in preparation for Operation Sealion. On 7 October the squadron left Coastal Command control to undertake more training in preparation for carrier-based operations. From May to October, the Squadron dropped 55.5 tons of bombs and seven tons of mines, escorted over 100 convoys. It claimed two Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters shot down for the loss of five Albacores.

In November 1940, the squadron embarked on the newly commissioned aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, which sailed for the Mediterranean via South Africa and the Red Sea, the squadron flying attacks against Massawa in Italian-ruled Eritrea on the way. The squadron's strength was supplemented by two Swordfishes in March 1941 to replace losses. 826 Squadron took part in the Battle of Cape Matapan on 28 March 1941, damaging the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto. On 26 May 1941, following an attack on an airfield on Karpathos, Formidable was badly damaged by German bombers, and was withdrawn from operations for repair, with 826 Squadron being detached for land-based operations.