790 Naval Air Squadron

790 Naval Air Squadron formed on the 15 June 1941, as an Air Target Towing Unit, at RNAS Machrihanish (HMS Landrail),[3] situated near to Campbeltown in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It was made up of parts of 768 NAS and 772 NAS, equipped with Fairey Swordfish and Blackburn Roc aircraft.[3] Three months later the squadron disbanded into 772 NAS, on the 30 September.[2]

790 Naval Air Squadron reformed on the 27 July 1942, at RNAS Charlton Horethorne (HMS Heron II), situated in the hamlet of Sigwells in Somerset, England, attached to the Fighter Direction School. The squadron was equipped with Airspeed Oxford, a twin-engine trainer aircraft, and Fairey Fulmar, a carrier-borne reconnaissance / fighter aircraft. It used these to support the training of Fighter Direction Officers. The Oxford aircraft would act as the 'enemy bombers' and the Fulmar aircraft would be the 'fighter aircraft' that the trainees would direct to intercept.[3]

In June 1944 the Fulmar aircraft were withdrawn and were replaced with Fairey Firefly, a carrier-borne fighter and anti-submarine aircraft. The squadron briefly operated from RAF Culmhead, situated at Churchstanton on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset, during August and September of that year, but moved to RNAS Zeals (HMS Hummingbird), sited to the north of the village of Zeals in Wiltshire, on the 1 April 1945.[2]

On the 30 August 1945, the squadron relocated to RNAS Dale (HMS Goldcrest), located just outside the village of Dale, Pembrokeshire.[4] The squadron continued to provide live interception flights but now for the new purpose built Air Direction School, which was located 1 mile South of RNAS Dale, at R.N. Aircraft Direction Centre. Kete.[5] Here the squadron operated Twin-engined Avro Anson, the bi-plane de Havilland Dominie transport, Fairey Firefly I fighter and anti-submarine aircraft, de Havilland Mosquito FB.6 & B.25 and de Havilland Sea Mosquito TR.33 variants of the twin engine multi-role aircraft, the twin-engined Airspeed Oxford, various marks of Supermarine Seafire, naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire, and the Grumman Wildcat an American carrier-based fighter aircraft. 790 NAS moved to RNAS Culdrose (HMS Seahawk), situated near Helston, on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall, on the 13 December 1947,[4] it operated out of here for the next couple of years before disbanding on the 15 November 1949.[2]

• Sturtivant, R; Ballance, T (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-223-8.
• Ballance, Theo (2016). The Squadrons and Units of the Fleet Air Arm. Air-Britain. ISBN 978 0 85130 489 2.
• 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.