About This Unit
805 Squadron was originally commissioned as a Royal Navy (RN) fighter squadron in May 1940. The unit disbanded and reformed several times during WWII serving in Crete, Africa and the Pacific before disbanding for the final time (as a RN squadron) in 1948.
805 Squadron reformed as the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) first fighter squadron on 28 August 1948 at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Eglinton in Northern Ireland. Flying Hawker Sea Fury FB IIs and commanded by Lieutenant Commander PEI Bailey, RN, the Squadron formed part of the 20th Carrier Air Group (CAG) along with 816 Squadron.
805 Squadron received word (c. May 1951) that it was to comprise part of a new Sydney Carrier Air Group along with 808 and 817 Squadrons and would be departing for Korea later that year.
05 Squadron departed for Korea aboard HMAS Sydney on 31 August 1951, with HMAS Tobruk in company as her escort, and arrived in Japan on 19 September 1951. While en route, on 11 September 1951, 805 Squadron lost one of its Sea Furies in the Pacific Ocean. Experiencing mechanical difficulties, Sub Lieutenant Ian Webster, RN, ditched into the water just 1000 metres from HMAS Sydney.
Participating in Operation STRANGLE, which was intended to cut enemy supply and communications to the front lines, Sydney would share patrol duties on Korea's west coast with Royal Navy (RN) and US Navy (USN) carriers as part of Task Force 95, United Nations Blockade and Escort Force. Seven patrols of roughly 13 days each, including four days in transit to and from bases in Japan, were originally planned.
805 Squadron was decommissioned at NAS Nowra on 26 March 1958 and recommissioned just one week later on 31 March 1958, now equipped with de Havilland Sea Venom all weather jet fighters. The Squadron embarked in HMAS Melbourne and would participate in exercises over the next few years throughout Australia and the Pacific.
With Government support waning and fixed wing naval aviation becoming increasingly expensive, 805 Squadron disbanded again on 30 June 1963.
A reappraisal of the Naval Three-Year Plan in 1965, due partly to a deterioration in the political climate in Australia's area of interest and partly to a lot of hard work at Navy Office, put fixed wing naval aviation back on the agenda. The Department of Defence recognised that without fighter protection, the RAN would be unable to meet its commitments to Australian forces overseas.
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Excerpts above from information found at: Sea Power Centre Australia (seapower.navy.gov.au)