732 Naval Air Squadron
Active23 November 1943 - 1 July 1944
15 May 1945 - 7 November 1945[1]
Country United Kingdom
Branch Royal Navy
TypeFleet Air Arm Second Line Squadron
Role
  • Operational Training Unit (OTU)
  • Night Fighter Training Squadron
Part ofFleet Air Arm
Garrison/HQRNAS Brunswick
RNAS Drem
Insignia
Identification MarkingsD2A+[2]

732 Naval Air Squadron (732 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was initially formed from a requirement for an Operational Training Unit, for Fleet Air Arm pilots flying the Vought Corsair, between 1943 and 1944, at Brunswick, Maine, United States. In 1945, it was reformed, for a brief period, as a Night Fighter Training Squadron, operating out of RNAS Drem, East Lothian, Scotland. Notably equipped with six Avro Anson flying classrooms, amongst other aircraft.

History of 732 NAS

Operational Training Unit (1943 - 1944)

A formation of six FAA Corsairs over the Maine countryside

732 Naval Air Squadron was formed from the remnants of 1835 Naval Air Squadron, on the 23 November 1943, following the latter's disbandment on the same date, at R.N. Air Section Brunswick, at USNAS Brunswick, located 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of Brunswick, Maine, United States.

There was a requirement to form a Fleet Air Arm, second-line, Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Brunswick, specifically for the Vought F4U Corsair, an American carrier-based fighter-bomber aircraft.

Having completed its purpose, 732 Naval Air Squadron disbanded at Brunswick on the 1 July 1944.[3]

Night Fighter Training Squadron (1945)

732 Naval Air Squadron reformed at RNAS Drem (HMS Nighthawk), just north of the village of Drem in East Lothian, Scotland, as a Night Fighter Training Squadron, on the 15 May 1945.

RNAS Drem was home to the Fleet Air Arm's, Naval Night Fighter School and Night Fighter Direction Centre. Here, the squadron operated six Avro Anson multi-role aircraft, which were fitted out as classrooms, along with six North American Harvard advanced trainer aircraft, nine Grumman Hellcat fighter aircraft and a number of Fairey Firefly NF.Mk I fighter and anti-submarine aircraft.

Roughly six months later, on the 7 November 1945, the squadron disbanded whilst at RNAS Drem, becoming ‘B’ flight of 784 Naval Air Squadron, another Night Fighter Training Squadron.[4]

Aircraft flown

Grumman F6F Hellcat, in FAA markings, an example of the type used by 732 NAS

732 Naval Air Squadron operated two marks of Corsair during 1944 as an OTU at Brunswick.[5] In 1945, at HMS Nighthawk, RNAS Drem, the squadron operated multiple types of other Fleet Air Arm aircraft:[4]

732 Naval Air Squadron operated from a couple of naval air stations of the Royal Navy, in the United States and Scotland:

Commanding Officers

List of commanding officers of 732 Naval Air Squadron with month and year of appointment and end:[2]

1943 - 1944

1945

  • Lieutenant (A) M.B.W. Howell, RNVR (May 1945-Aug 1945)
  • Lieutenant Commander (A) A.M. Tritton, DSC, RNVR (Aug 1945-Nov 1945)

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 54.
  2. 1 2 Wragg 2019, p. 120.
  3. 1 2 "RNAS Brunswick". www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 "RNAS Drem". www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  5. ↑ Thetford 1991, p. 83.

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