Royal Naval Air Station Merryfield, commonly known as RNAS Merryfield, is an air station of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

located north-west of

Ilminster Ilminster is a market town and civil parish in Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808. Bypassed in 1988, the town now lies just east of the junction of the A303 (London to Exeter) and the A358 (Taunton to Chard and Axminster). The parish ...

, and south-east of

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

, in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, in England.

History

The following squadrons were located here at some point: *

700 Naval Air Squadron 700 Naval Air Squadron (700 NAS) is a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) Maritime Unmanned Air System squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). Known as 700X Naval Air Squadron, where the 'X' is used to designate 'experimental', it is currently the R ...

* 766 Naval Air Squadron *

802 Naval Air Squadron 802 Naval Air Squadron (802 NAS), colloquially called 802 Squadron, was a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It most recently operated the Hawker Sea Hawk between 1956 and 1959, notably during the S ...

809 Naval Air Squadron 809 Squadron (809 NAS), sometimes referred to as 809 Squadron, nicknamed ''Immortal'', is a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It currently operates the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning aircraft fro ...

891 Naval Air Squadron 891 Naval Air Squadron, sometimes referred to as 891 Squadron, was a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It most recently operated de Havilland Sea Venom all-weather fighter aircraft between Septem ...

893 Naval Air Squadron 893 Naval Air Squadron (893 NAS), otherwise referred to as 893 Squadron, was a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It most recently operated de Havilland Sea Vixen carrier-based fleet air-defence fig ...

894 Naval Air Squadron 894 Naval Air Squadron (894 NAS), sometimes referred to as 894 Squadron, was a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It most recently operated de Havilland Sea Venom between January 1957 and December ...

Current use

The site is mainly used for

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

helicopter exercises, and there are a large number of lettered

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

landing spots spread across the site on the

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with Airport apron, aprons, hangars, Airport terminal, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as Asphalt concrete, asphalt or concrete, although sma ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merryfield Royal Naval Air Stations in Somerset Airports in England South Somerset 1971 establishments in England

History

Current use

See also

References