719 Squadron

Formed on 15 Jun 1944 at St. Merryn in Cornwall as a weapons training unit, it stood down in Jan 1945 to become 794 Squadron. It had further training roles, mainly in Northern Ireland. It took over the last fixed wing Gannets from 737 Squadron in Nov 1957 before it too disbanded in Mar 1959. Its short rotary wing career began on 17 May 1960 with the Whirlwind HAS.7 at RNAS Eglinton. After a short deployment on HMS Hermes (R12) during Oct 1960, it handed back its Whirlwinds and disbanded on 5 Oct 1961 and became the front line 819 Squadron.