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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 2091.PDF
49« FLIGHT, 19 October i9$l "FLIGHT" PHOTOGRAPHS Not, perhaps, a perfect echelon but a pretty good one nevertheless. Which, one may ask, is "odd man out"? NO. 800 SQUADRON The First Operational Naval Unit to be Equipped with Jet Aircraft TT THEN, in 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service and the Wy Royal Flying Corps were merged to form the Royal Air Force, the Admiralty lost control of naval flying, and all air units working with the Navy were placed under the control of R.A.F. Coastal Area. The Admiralty were fully alive to the many anomalies of this system, and the first result of their attempt to regain some measure of control was the creation of the Fleet Air Arm in 1924. Naval air- craft continued, nevertheless, to be flown by R.A.F. pilots, with naval men in the rear cockpits : thereafter, under con- tinued Admiralty pressure, it was eventually agreed that some naval pilots should be used, and considerably later the decision was taken that upwards of 70 per cent of Fleet Air Arm officers should be naval officers. The Admiralty did not, however, succeed in achieving their aim of complete con- trol of the Fleet Air Arm until July, 1937, and even then it took nearly a further two years for the Fleet Air Arm truly and wholly to become a part of the Navy. This historical sketch is given in order that the beginnings of the squadron with which we are here concerned may be studiedin the right perspective. It was decided in 1930 that the flights of the Fleet Air Arm should be regrouped into squadrons, these tobe numbered from 800 onward: thus it was that Nos. 403 and 404 Flights were re-formed in 1931 to make the first naval airsquadron—No. 800. That this squadron should be the first operational unit in Naval Aviation to be equipped with jet aircraftis, therefore, only fitting. The very fact that 800 is the first operational jet squadron inthe Navy means that to some extent its preliminary work must be of an exploratory nature, and later jet squadrons will reap thebenefit of 8oo's trials and errors. Such prototype work demands workers of more than ordinary ability and, in its wisdom, theAdmiralty has selected for the squadron a group of pilots of above- average calibre. The squadron Commander is Lt. Cdr. G. CtBaldwin, D.S.C. and Bar, R.N., who, in addition to a most dis- tinguished war career, during which he attained to the commandof No. 4 Naval Fighter Wing, also took the Empire Test Pilots School course, served for two years in the Service Trials Unitacted as liaison officer to the Central Fighter Establishment at West Raynham (during which time he flew with the Air FightingDevelopment Squadron) and finally, prior to assuming command of 800 Squadron, took the Royal Naval Staff course at Greenwich. The senior pilot of the squadron is Lt. D. R. O. Price, D.F.C.,R.N., whose "potted biography" has already appeared in Flight (November 24th, 1949) in connection with the work of 809 NightFighter Squadron, of which he was also senior pilot. Before leaving 809 in October last year, Lt. Price took the Jet ConversionCourse at Culdrose, and then served in the Battle-class destroyer H.M.S. St. James for eight months, the final three of which heput in as "Jimmy the One." Haying "balanced his career" some- what with watch-keeping experience in a ship, he renewed hisgreen ticket on jet aircraft at Culdrose before taking up his present appointment. Second senior to Price in 800 Squadron is Lt. A. B. B. Clark)R.N., who, following on a busy war, had two and a half years m This view of one of 800's Attackers being serviced shows to adventajt the flaps and wing-lift spoilers. Note, in the bay forward of the NtM< the integral funnel on the fuel filler-pipe.
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