802 Naval Air Squadron
The 802 Naval Air Squadron was a unit of the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy . During the Second World War , the Jägerstaffel was lost three times when the carriers Glorious , Audacity and Avenger were sunk .
Origin of the season
The season was on April 3, 1933 as a Jägerstaffel from the flights No. 408 and No.409 formed. The squadron, equipped with nine Hawker Nimrod and three Hawker Osprey , came to the aircraft carrier Glorious in the Mediterranean Fleet . During an overhaul of the Glorious from 1934, the squadron was briefly used by the sister ship Courageous in the Home Fleet, before it came back to the Glorious . In May 1939, the squadron was converted to twelve Gloster Sea Gladiators .
Second World War
At the outbreak of World War II , the 802 Squadron was stationed on board the aircraft carrier Glorious . The equipment included twelve aircraft of twelve Gloster Sea Gladiator types. The aircraft carrier was relocated from the Mediterranean Sea to the coast of Norway. After the Glorious was sunk by the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst on June 8, 1940, the unit initially ceased to exist.
On November 21, 1941, the 802 Squadron was re-established from parts of the 804 Squadron and equipped with Grumman Martlets Mk . In July 1941, the unit was embarked with six aircraft under the direction of Lt Cdr John Wintour on the escort carrier Empire Audacity . The unit was lost again on December 21, 1941 when Empire Audacity was sunk by U 751 on December 21, 1941 .
In February 1942, the unit with Hawker Sea Hurricanes Mk. Ib was set up again and transferred to the escort carrier Avenger to accompany the northern sea convoy PQ 18 . After participating in the invasion of North Africa , the Avenger was sunk by U 155 on the return journey to Great Britain on November 15, 1942 .
In May 1945 the unit was set up again with 24 Supermarine Seafires L.III .
literature
- Barrett Tillman: Wildcat Aces of World War 2 , Osprey Publishing, ISBN 978-1-85532-486-2
