About This Unit
No. 816 Squadron RAN
Extract from Link to RAN Seapower site (seapower.navy.gov.au) see this link for a full history 1939-current
Genesis
816 Squadron has its origins in the Royal Navy (RN) where it was first commissioned as an anti-submarine squadron on 3 October 1939 aboard HMS Furious, a Courageous Class light battle cruiser that had been converted into an aircraft carrier in 1925. Equipped with nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers, the Squadron carried out the first airborne torpedo attack of the war in April 1940. The Squadron joined Royal Air Force (RAF) Coastal Command in March 1941 and, returning from a mission escorting RAF aircraft being ferried to Malta, was embarked in HMS Ark Royal when she was sunk on 13 November 1941. The Squadron was subsequently disbanded but reformed in February 1942. It disbanded and reformed twice more during WWII and operated no less than five aircraft types. The Squadron was, for the most part, employed in convoy escort duties serving as far afield as the North Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica, and conducted operations in the English Channel during the Allied invasion of Normandy. The Squadron disbanded as a RN unit for the final time at Lee-on-Solent on 1 July 1948.
RAN Service - post WW2
On 28 August 1948, 816 Squadron recommissioned as a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) squadron at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Eglington, Northern Ireland. Equipped with the new Fairey Firefly AS-5 aircraft and commanded by Lieutenant Commander CRJ Coxon, RN, 816 Squadron formed part of the 20th Carrier Air Group (CAG) along with 805 Squadron.
Aircrew began training in the UK, working up on a variety of aircraft loaned from the RN, the final phase of which was deck landing qualification aboard HMS Illustrious.
HMAS Sydney (III), the RAN's first aircraft carrier, was commissioned on 16 December 1948 at Devonport in the south of England. 20th CAG performed a flypast to celebrate the event. The CAG embarked in Sydney on 15 February 1949 and spent the next few weeks working up at Moray Firth, north east of Inverness in Scotland. All of the pilots and observers in the CAG had extensive wartime operational experience but many had little or no deck landing experience.
Fig 1 An 816 Squadron Fairey Firefly on the deck of HMAS Vengenace with HMAS ANZAC in the background
There were accidents, including one where a pilot from 816 Squadron managed to destroy five aircraft, all on loan from the RN, in one attempted landing. On 17 March 1949, Lieutenant Danny Buchanan crashed on Sydney's deck when his Firefly landed heavily and jumped the safety barriers. He first came down on Lieutenant John Gunn's aircraft (who had just landed himself) before hitting three more parked aircraft and coming to a stop close to the bows. Buchanan later rose to the rank of Commander and became Commander (Air) at HMAS Albatross.
Korea
In February/March 1951 with the 20th CAG embarked, Sydney joined dozens of warships from a number of countries including the UK, Canada and New Zealand in a series of exercises in the Storm Bay area of south eastern Tasmania. The CAG disembarked in April 1951, however, barely a month had passed before word was received that 805, 808 and 817 Squadrons were to comprise a new Sydney Carrier Air Group and would be departing for Korea later that year. 816 Squadron was disappointed to learn that it was to remain in Australia.
February 1952 proved to be a tragic month for 816 Squadron when it lost four of its members in two separate incidents. Lieutenant Brian Wall and Sub Lieutenant Douglas Saunders were both lost on 19 February when their Firefly went missing and was believed to have crashed into the sea near Moruya, NSW. Just three days later, a Firefly carrying Sub Lieutenant Durrant Small and Observer JG Sharp crashed into sea near Seven Mile Beach, NSW. Both Small and Sharp were killed.
In March 1953 Sydney sailed to participate in Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Fleet Review in England with 817 Squadron embarked. 816 Squadron, however, remained in Australia and, along with 805 Squadron, became the first Squadrons to embark in the RAN's newly commissioned aircraft carrier, HMAS Vengeance, in June 1953. The original intention was for Vengeance to deploy to Korea to relieve HMS Ocean. It was decided, however, that Sydney, and not Vengeance, would return to Korea with 816, 805 and 850 Squadrons embarked. Sydney departed Fremantle for Korea on 27 October 1953.
Fig 2. A Firefly catches the arrestor wire on HMAS Sydney (III) in Korean waters, 1953
The July 1953 ceasefire meant that Sydney's second tour in Korea should have been a comparatively uneventful affair. However, the deaths of two pilots (one from 805 Squadron, the other from 850 Squadron) and the serious injury of an aircraft handler marred the deployment.
Sydney departed for Australia on 4 May 1954 and arrived in Fremantle, via Hong Kong and Singapore, on 2 June 1954. After landing her aircraft at NAS Nowra later in the month, Sydney became a general service training ship. 816 Squadron embarked for short time aboard Vengeance before decommissioning at NAS Nowra on 27 April 1955.
See the weblink for 816 Sqn history 1955 - current.