#1619CU Wildcat HMA2
Description
Squadron Prints Lithograph No. 1619CU - ZZ415, Wildcat HMA Mk2, 744 Naval Air Squadron, MoD Boscome Down.
No.744 Squadron officially formed at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on 1 March 1943. After a brief period of suspension, it reformed on 6 March 1944 at Maydown for merchant aircraft carrier training. Equipped with twelve Swordfish plus six reserves, it trained crews for the locally based No.836 Squadron, with live armament and anti-submarine training being provided by a detachment at Machrihanish. The Squadron moved to Eglinton in October 1945, having by then become fully engaged in anti-submarine training. By August 1946, the Squadron operated in tandem with No.719 Squadron and, when considered up to strength with trained crew it was elevated to front line status, became No.815 Squadron on 1 December 1947. The Squadron next reformed on 20 July 1951, by re-designating “X” Flight of No.737 Squadron as a Trials and Development Squadron within the Naval Air Anti-Submarine School at Eglinton equipped with Fireflies, Barracudas and Ansons. It remained a trials unit engaged in the development of anti-submarine warfare until 1954 when it, again, disbanded. In this role it engaged in trials and development of search receivers to detect submarine radar until reforming at RNAS Culdrose as the Naval Air-Sea Warfare Development Unit, to work in conjunction with the RAF Anti-Submarine Warfare Development Unit (ASWDU) at St Mawgan, to where the Squadron itself moved on 23 October 1954. It operated Firefly AS6s and Gannets in May 1955, followed two months later by Avengers and was foremost in the delivery of early radar jamming trials. In October 1955, the Squadron was restyled as the Naval Anti-Submarine Development Squadron. Due to the Suez Crisis, the Squadron disbanded on 31 October 1956, its trials task then being carried out elsewhere within the ASWDU. In 2018, 744 Naval Air Squadron reformed once again, this time at MOD Boscombe Down where it took on the duties of Mission Systems and Armaments Test & Evaluation. Since its formation it has contributed significantly to the development of the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group capability, principally in the delivery of Release to Service of the CROWSNEST Airborne Surveillance and Control Radar fitted to the Merlin HM2 and of the Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon System fitted to the Wildcat HMA2.
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