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Fleet Air Arm

Royal Navy

Helicopters

Naval Fleet

Organisation History:

Originally formed as the Royal Naval Air Service in 1910, it was merged with the Royal Flying Corps in Apr 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. Following the Inskip Award in Jul 1937, the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force and its shore bases transferred back to Royal Navy control on 24 May 1939 and the term Fleet Air Arm stuck. It was only officially adopted as the name of the service in 1953 ! The Royal Navy placed an order for 45 Sikorsky VS-316s (R-4s) in 1945 and became the first service in the world to order helicopters for operational use.

Since the 1970s, rotary wing aviation has eclipsed that of fixed wing with the Fleet Air Arm, following the major re-organisations announced in the UK 1957 Defence White Paper, which essentially retired the main carrier fleet, and the 1966 Defence White Paper which cancelled the replacement large strike carrier, CVA-01. The Fleet Air Arm provides maritime attack and combat air support for the fleet and its task groups. Anti-submarine, AEW, SAR and replenishment tasks are conducted plus helicopter assault and support for the Royal Marines, together with the comprehensive training necessary to complete these missions. Some training and other second line duties are carried out by civilian contractors or in joint civilian-military teams.

From 1 Oct 1999 the Commando Helicopter Force joined with the support and battlefield helicopters of the Army Air Corps and the Royal Air Force in the new Joint Helicopter Command (JHC). JHC is unified under Commander-in-Chief, Land. The RN contributes aircraft (plus about 1,000 personnel) from 845, 846, 847 and 848 Squadrons plus other aircraft from an attrition reserve. The FAA also contributes 705 Squadron to the tri-service Defence Helicopter Flying School.

The main FAA operational shore bases are HMS Heron (RNAS Yeovilton, tail code VL) and HMS Seahawk (RNAS Culdrose, tail code CU). A SAR detatchment is based at Prestwick (HMS Gannet, tail code PW) in Scotland.

Fleet Air Arm assets, bases and personnel are the responsibility of Flag Officer, Naval Air Command (FONAC).

Rotary Wing Aircraft Units in this Organisation:	Login to Edit

Rotary Wing Aircraft Unit	Created	Disband
700 squadron - 700 naval air squadron	1940	--
701 squadron - 701 naval air squadron	1957	1958
702 squadron - 702 naval air squadron	1936	--
703 squadron - 703 naval air squadron	1942	1981
705 squadron - 705 naval air squadron	1936	--
706 squadron - 706 naval air squadron	1953	1998
707 squadron - 707 naval air squadron	1945	1995
719 squadron - 719 naval air squadron	1944	1961
727 squadron - 727 naval air squadron	1943	--
728 squadron - 728 naval air squadron	1943	1967
737 squadron - 737 naval air squadron	1943	1983
744 squadron - 744 naval air squadron	1943	1956
771 squadron - 771 naval air squadron	1939	--
772 squadron - 772 naval air squadron	1938	1995
781 squadron - 781 naval air squadron	1940	1981
810 squadron - 810 naval air squadron	1933	2001
814 squadron - 814 naval air squadron	1938	--
815 squadron - 815 naval air squadron	1939	--
819 squadron - 819 naval air squadron	1940	2001
820 squadron - 820 naval air squadron	1933	--
824 squadron - 824 naval air squadron	1933	--
825 squadron - 825 naval air squadron	1934	1982
826 squadron - 826 naval air squadron	1940	1993
829 squadron - 829 naval air squadron	1940	--
845 squadron - 845 naval air squadron	1943	--
846 squadron - 846 naval air squadron	1943	--
848 squadron - 848 naval air squadron	1943	--
849 squadron - 849 naval air squadron	1943	--
854 squadron - 854 naval air squadron	1944	--
857 squadron - 857 naval air squadron	1944	--
flag officer sea training - fost	1958	--

Bases/Heliports of this Organisation:	Login to Edit

Viewing: Current Bases/Heliports | Historical

Base / Heliport	Units of this Base/Heliport
Plymouth	727 squadron 2001/now flag officer sea training 1999/now
RAF Shawbury	705 squadron 1997/now
RNAS Culdrose	771 squadron 1974/now 700 squadron 1998/now 814 squadron 1976/now 820 squadron 1964/now 824 squadron 2000/now 829 squadron 2004/now 849 squadron 1984/now 854 squadron 2006/now 857 squadron 2006/now
RNAS Yeovilton	702 squadron 1999/now 815 squadron 1999/now 845 squadron 2003/now

Models in this Organisation:	Login to Edit

Model	Del'd	From Year	To Year
AW Merlin HM.1	44	1998	present
EC AS350 Ecureuil	26	1997	present
SNIA sa365 dauphin ii	2	1997	present
westland Sea King HC.4	43	1979	present
westland Lynx	94	1976	present
SNIA SA342C Gazelle HT.2	40	1973	1997
westland sea king	112	1969	present
westland wasp	96	1963	1986
hiller UH-12E Raven	21	1962	1976
westland wessex	237	1961	1988
saunders roe saro p.531	3	1959	1964
hiller UH-12B HTE-2	20	1953	1963
westland whirlwind	167	1953	1977
sikorsky s-55 H-19	25	1952	1962
saunders roe skeeter	2	1952	1952
westland dragonfly	71	1950	1967
sikorsky R-4 Hoverfly	24	1944	1948

Individual Helicopters on Database:	Login to Edit

Construction Numbers on database of this organisation
2	SNIA	sa365 dauphin ii
1	SNIA	gazelle SA342C Gazelle HT.2
44	AW	eh.101 merlin Merlin HM.1
2	bristol	sycamore
21	hiller	360 UH-12E Raven
20	hiller	360 UH-12B HTE-2
3	saunders roe	saro p.531
4	sikorsky	s-61 H-3 S-61D-1
1	sikorsky	s-51 H-5
2	westland	Lynx Lynx HAS3
1	westland	Lynx Lynx AH1
8	westland	Lynx Lynx HAS2
2	westland	Lynx Lynx HMA8
10	westland	sea king
25	westland	sea king Sea King HAS.1
3	westland	sea king Sea King HAS.6
14	westland	sea king Sea King HAS.5
4	westland	sea king Sea King HAS.2
24	westland	sea king Sea King HC.4
84	westland	wasp
17	westland	wessex
1	westland	dragonfly