2nd Carrier Air Group

Avenger and Corsair aircraft on HMS Formidable, off Japan, on 10 July 1945

The 2nd Carrier Air Group was formed on 30 June 1945. It was based on the Illustrious-class aircraft carrier, HMS Formidable for service as part of the British Pacific Fleet. The 2nd CAG was formed of 848 Naval Air Squadron, which was equipped with Avenger torpedo bomber aircraft, 1841 Naval Air Squadron and 1842 Naval Air Squadron, both from the 6th NFW, and operated the Corsair fighter aircraft.

During July and August 1945, the group was involved with attacks on the Japanese mainland. On the 17 July, the 2nd CAG flew twenty eight Corsair aircraft, off Formidable, bound for north of Tokyo, however, some aircraft were unable to locate their targets due to bad weather. Twenty four Corsair aircraft attacked targets near Tokyo the following day, before more bad weather halted flying operations. Airstrikes resumed on the 24 July, and then on the 30 July, the Japanese escort ship Okinawa was attacked and sunk near Maizuru. However, a combination of bad weather, refuelling requirements and the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in a stop to any sorties until the resumption of air operations on the 9 August.[3]

The 2nd CAG’s Avenger aircraft flew off Formidable and attacked Matsushima Air Field, during the morning of the 9th August. This was followed by eight of the group’s Corsair aircraft, led by Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray, RCNVR, a Canadian naval officer and senior pilot of 1841 Naval Air Squadron. However, Gray was diverted to attack Japanese warships located in Onagawa Wan, Miyagi Prefecture. Two escort ships were spotted and Gray led his aircraft into attack. Intense flak set his engine on fire, but he continued his attack, skip bombing a 500-pound (230 kg) bomb into the Etorofu-class escort Amakusa, sinking the ship with the loss of 157 lives. Unfortunately, after releasing the bomb, Gray's aircraft rolled inverted and crashed into the sea; he did not survive. Gray was later posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC).[4]

After the initial announcement of Japan's surrender, on the 15 August 1945, the group then left its aircraft in Australia and returned to the United Kingdom, on HMS Victorious, and it disbanded on 31 October 1945.[1]

• Ballance, Theo (2016). The Squadrons and Units of the Fleet Air Arm. Air-Britain. ISBN 978 0 85130 489 2.

• Hobbs, David (2011). The British Pacific Fleet: The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strike Force. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-044-3.

• Sturtivant, R; Ballance, T (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-223-8.

• Wragg, David (2019). The Fleet Air Arm Handbook 1939-1945. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press. ISBN 978 0 7509 9303 6.