700 Naval Air Squadron (700 NAS) is an experimental test squadron in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

’s

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wi ...

History

700 NAS was originally formed on 21 January 1940 at

RNAS Hatston RNAS Hatston, also called HMS ''Sparrowhawk'', was a Royal Naval Air Station, one mile to the north west of Kirkwall on the island of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It was located near the strategically vital naval base of Scapa Flow, which for ...

(HMS ''Sparrowhawk'') in

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

in a plan to centralise the operations of the 700 series "Catapult"

flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

s attached to catapult units and to act as a pool and Headquarters for all catapult aircraft embarked on

battleship A battleship is a large armour, armored warship with a main artillery battery, battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1 ...

s and

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several ...

s - chiefly the

Supermarine Walrus The Supermarine Walrus (originally designated the Supermarine Seagull V) was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and manufactured by Supermarine at Woolston, Southampton. The Walrus f ...

flying boat, together with the Fairey Seafox and

Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also us ...

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, m ...

s. Initial equipment comprised 42 Walruses together with 11 Seafoxes and 12 Swordfishes. On 21 June 1940, a

Walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the fami ...

(''P5666'') of 700 Squadron on the

found the German

''Scharnhorst'' but ''Manchester'' did not engage. 25 September 1940, Walrus L2247, embarked on HMAS Australia, was shot down by French Vichy fighters at Dakar and crashed into the sea all 3 crew perished. Trailing German capital ships in the lead up to the

Battle of the Denmark Strait The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a naval engagement in the Second World War, which took place on 24 May 1941 between ships of the Royal Navy and the ''Kriegsmarine''. The British battleship and the battlecruiser fought the German battleshi ...

, Walrus ''L2184'' of 700 NAS from was damaged by shellfire from '' Prinz Eugen'' in the

Denmark Strait The Denmark Strait () or Greenland Strait ( , 'Greenland Sound') is an oceanic strait between Greenland to its northwest and Iceland to its southeast. The Norwegian island of Jan Mayen lies northeast of the strait. Geography The strait connect ...

on 23 May 1941 while still on its catapult. The final successful attack on an enemy

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

by a Walrus was on 11 July 1942, when Walrus ''W2709'' of 700 (Levant) NAS sank the Italian submarine ''Ondina'', in conjuction with the South African surface vessels ''Protea'' and trawler HMSAS ''Southern Maid'', east of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

. There were at least 5 confirmed enemy submarines sunk or damaged by Walruses during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, including the

Vichy French Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

submarine ''Poncelet'' which was bombed by Walrus ''L2268'' of 700 NAS from and attacked by on 7 November 1940 off the

Cameroons British Cameroon or the British Cameroons was a British mandate territory in British West Africa, formed of the Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. Today, the Northern Cameroons forms parts of the Borno, Adamawa and Taraba states of N ...

. The submarine was damaged and forced to surrender, and later scuttled off the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is i ...

. The crew of Petty Officer P H Parsons, Sub Lt A D Corkhill and N A Evans were all awarded gallantry medals. 700 NAS was disbanded in March 1944, pilots transferring into

771 Naval Air Squadron 771 Naval Air Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm was formed on 24 May 1939 at Lee-on-Solent as a Fleet Requirements Unit with 14 Fairey Swordfish TSR biplanes. The Squadron carried out various exercises with ships and provided towed targets for naval ...

, but it was reformed as a Test Pilot School in October 1944. 700 NAS re-emerged in August 1955 as a Fleet Requirements unit and from 1957 was based out of

RNAS Lee-on-Solent Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent (HMS ''Daedalus'') was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm. First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and adm ...

to introduce the Westland Whirlwind HAS.7.

Intensive Flying Trials Units (IFTU)

;700H NAS:1955-57,

, Westland Whirlwind HAS.7 ;700X NAS:1957-58, Supermarine Scimitar F.1 ;700Y NAS:1958-59,

RNAS Yeovilton Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, or RNAS Yeovilton, (HMS ''Heron'') is an airfield of the Royal Navy and British Army, sited a few miles north of Yeovil, Somerset. It is one of two active Fleet Air Arm bases (the other being RNAS Culdrose) ...

, de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen FAW.1 ;700X NAS:1959-61,

Saro P.531 The Saro P.531 (or Saunders-Roe P.531) is a British all-metal five-seat helicopter designed and built by Saunders-Roe Limited (Saro). Development Design of the P.531Jackson 1974, p 295 and 329 was started in November 1957 as a private ventur ...

;700H NAS:1960-61, ,

Fairey Gannet The Fairey Gannet is a carrier-borne aircraft that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed for the Royal Navy, being the first fixed-wing aircraft to combine both the search an ...

and

Hawker Sea Hawk The Hawker Sea Hawk is a British single-seat jet day fighter formerly of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN), built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although its design origina ...

deck and launch trials ;700H NAS:1960-?, Westland Wessex HAS.1 ;700Z NAS:1961-63,

RNAS Lossiemouth Lossiemouth ( gd, Inbhir Losaidh) is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over ...

, Blackburn Buccaneer S.1 ;700V NAS:1963-64, Westland Wessex HU.5 ;700W NAS:1963-64, Westland Wasp HAS.1 ;700B NAS:1965-?,

, Blackburn Buccaneer S.2 ;700H NAS:1967-?, Westland Wessex HAS.3 ;700P NAS:1968-69, McDonnell Douglas F-4K Phantom II FG.1 ;700S NAS:1969-70, Westland Sea King HAS.1 ;700L NAS:1976-77,

, Westland Lynx HAS.2 ;700A NAS:1979-80,

, BAe Sea Harrier FRS.1 ;700L NAS:1990-92,

, Westland Lynx HAS.2, (Lynx CTS Trials) ;700M NAS:1998-2008,

RNAS Culdrose Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose (RNAS Culdrose, also known as HMS ''Seahawk''; ICAO: EGDR) is a Royal Navy airbase near Helston on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall UK, and is one of the largest helicopter bases in Europe. Its main role is serv ...

, AgustaWestland Merlin HM.1 ;700W NAS:2009-2014,

, AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2 ;700X NAS:2014-,

Boeing Insitu ScanEagle The Boeing Insitu ScanEagle is a small, long-endurance, low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, and is used for reconnaissance. The ScanEagle was designed by Insitu based on the Insitu SeaScan, a co ...

AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma The AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma is an American unmanned aircraft system which is small, battery powered, and hand-launched. Its primary mission is surveillance and intelligence gathering using an electro-optical and infrared camera. It is produced ...

QinetiQ Banshee Jet 80+ The Squadron carried on trials of

de Havilland Sea Vixen The de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen is a British twin-engine, twin boom-tailed, two-seat, carrier-based fleet air-defence fighter flown by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during the 1950s through to the early 1970s. The Sea Vixen was designed by ...

s on and during 1958 and from October 1959 formed at

Yeovilton Yeovilton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Yeovilton and District, in Somerset, England, east of Ilchester and north of Yeovil, in South Somerset district. The parish had a population of 1,226 in the 2011 census, e ...

with the Saunders Roe P.531 to investigate what would be needed to introduce a whole new form of helicopter operation to the Fleet – which led to the

Westland Wasp The Westland Wasp is a small 1960s British turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and is based on the earlier piston-e ...

. In October 1960 flight tests of landing and take-offs from with 27 launchings of the

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

and 34 with the

700 NAS disbanded again at

in July 1961. However, a number of Intensive Flying Trials Units were subsequently formed under the "700 NAS" title, to prepare for new aircraft types coming into service. These operated as independent units, each being identified by a suffix letter after the squadron number (e.g. "700B"). Several of these IFTUs were formed for the introduction of the

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main chang ...

Blackburn Buccaneer The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccane ...

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and B ...

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engi ...

Westland Lynx The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose twin-engined military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led t ...

and

BAe Sea Harrier The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/ vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier family developed. It first entered servic ...

into the Fleet Air Arm. More recently, the squadron was re-commissioned at

in December 1998 as 700M Squadron, with a primary role of testing and evaluating the AgustaWestland Merlin HM.1 helicopter. 700M disbanded on 31 March 2008, transferring its aircraft and personnel to 824 Naval Air Squadron and also forming a new flight, 824 OEU. The squadron reformed again as 700W NAS in May 2009 at Yeovilton as the Lynx Wildcat Fielding Squadron. 700W expects to receive up to five Wildcats from January 2013 for operational evaluation and conversion training. The squadron was disbanded in July 2014 when it was merged with 702 NAS to form 825 Naval Air Squadron, the first operational Wildcat unit.

Present day

The Squadron currently operates as 700X NAS and undertakes RPAS trials, and also acts as a parent unit for the various ship-based flights operating the Insitu Scan Eagle UAV. In November 2019, 700 NAS tested two new UAS, namely, the

and the AeroVironment Wasp III.

Aircraft operated

* AgustaWestland Merlin *

(introduction to service) *

* Westland Whirlwind (tests) *

De Havilland Sea Vixen The de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen is a British twin-engine, twin boom-tailed, two-seat, carrier-based fleet air-defence fighter flown by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during the 1950s through to the early 1970s. The Sea Vixen was designed by ...

(tests) *

(tests) * Saunders-Roe P.531 (tests) (only 6 built) *

(introduction to service) *

Boeing Insitu Scaneagle The Boeing Insitu ScanEagle is a small, long-endurance, low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, and is used for reconnaissance. The ScanEagle was designed by Insitu based on the Insitu SeaScan, a co ...

(introduction to service)

References

External links

700X Naval Air Squadron at Royal Navy.mod.uk

Helicopter History of 700 Squadron
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 700 series Fleet Air Arm squadrons Military units and formations established in 1940 Air squadrons of the Royal Navy in World War II Military of the United Kingdom in Cornwall