730 Naval Air Squadron

730 Naval Air Squadron (730 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was active between 1944 and 1945 as a communications squadron.[2] The squadron was formed and operated out of RNAS Abbotsinch from April to November 1944, by that point in time it operated four types of aircraft. It moved to RNAS Ayr and while there gained two more aircraft types. For the first three months of 1945 a detachment operated out of RNAS Machrihanish, however, the squadron remained at RNAS Ayr until disbanding in August 1945.

730 Naval Air Squadron
Active1944-45[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Branch Royal Navy
TypeFleet Air Arm Second Line Squadron
RoleCommunications Squadron
Part ofFleet Air Arm

History of 730 NAS

Communications Squadron (1944 - 1945)
Stinson V-77 Reliant I (FK924) of the Royal Navy, an example of the type used by 730 NAS

730 Naval Air Squadron was formed on the 17 April 1944 at RNAS Abbotsinch (HMS Sanderling)[3] located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in Scotland, where the squadron operated Stinson Reliant, a single-engine four- to five-seat high-wing monoplane aircraft and Beech Expediter II, a twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft.

Later that year, in August, Beech Traveller aircraft were acquired, an American biplane with an atypical negative wing stagger and these were soon followed by Fairey Firefly, a carrier-borne fighter aircraft and anti-submarine aircraft, in the September. The squadron remained stationed at RNAS Abbotsinch for around seven months before moving to RNAS Ayr (HMS Wagtail) situated in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, in Scotland, on the 20 November 1944. From January 1945, Oxford, a twin-engine monoplane aircraft and Swordfish, a biplane torpedo bomber aircraft, were added and these were in use until the squadron was dissolved.

From the 1 January to the 8 March 1945, a detachment from 730 NAS, out of RNAS Ayr, operated from RNAS Machrihanish (HMS Landrail), located close to Campbeltown in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.[4]

On the 1 August 1945, 730 NAS disbanded at RNAS Ayr.[2]

Aircraft flown

The squadron has flown a number of different aircraft types, including:

730 Naval Air Squadron operated from two naval air stations of the Royal Navy, both in Scotland:[2]

Commanding Officers

List of commanding officers of 730 Naval Air Squadron with month and year of appointment and end:[2]

  • Lt G. Windsor, RNVR (Apr 1944 - Dec 1944)
  • Lt C. White, RNVR (Dec 1944 - May 1945)
  • Lt J. C. Kennedy, RN (May 1945 - Aug 1945)

References

Citations
  1. Sturtivant, Ballance 1994, p. 53.
  2. "730 Naval Air Squadron". www.wings-aviation.ch. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  3. "RNAS Abbotsinch". www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  4. "RNAS Machrihanish". www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  5. Thetford 1991, p. 404.
  6. Thetford 1991, p. 325.
  7. Thetford 1991, p. 177.
  8. Thetford 1991, p. 397.
  9. Thetford 1991, p. 149.

Bibliography
  • Sturtivant, R; Ballance, T (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-223-8.
  • Thetford, Owen (1991). British Naval Aircraft since 1912. London, UK: Putnam Aeronautical Books, an imprint of Conway Maritime Press Ltd. ISBN 0-85177-849-6.


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