Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent,, is a former Royal Naval Air Station located near Lee-on-the-Solent in Hampshire, approximately 4 miles (6.44 km) west of Portsmouth, on the coast of the Solent.
701 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron, which last disbanded during September 1958 at RNAS Lee-on-Solent where it was a Helicopter Trials, Communications and Fleet Requirements Unit. It initially formed during July 1936 as a Catapult Flight operating out of Malta and routinely embarking in RN ships such as, HMS Barham, HMS Malaya, HMS Valiant and HMS Warspite. By autumn 1939 it was known as 701 Naval Air Squadron but disbanded in January 1940. It was active twice more during the Second World War, between May 1940 and June 1941 on special duties and then between October 1942 and August 1943 performing anti-submarine patrols. Reforming in April 1945 it was designated a Communications Unit, operating out of Heston until disbanding in 1947. It last reformed as a Fleet Requirements Unit at HMS Daedalus, Lee-on-Solent, during October 1957.
1701 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was formed in February 1945 at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, as an amphibian bomber reconnaissance squadron. It was equipped with Supermarine Sea Otter, and the squadron joined HMS Begum in April 1945 bound for the Far East. The squadron was intended to join the newly established Mobile Naval Air Bases for Air Sea Rescue duties. 'B' Flight joined MONAB IV at RNAS Ponam in the Admiralty Islands in May 1945 and embarked in HMS Reaper in October 1945. 'A' Flight joined MONAB VI at RNAS Maryborough, Queensland, Australia in June 1945. The flights re-grouped in the Autumn of 1945 at HMS Nabcatcher, RNAS Kai Tak, Hong Kong, where it disbanded during August 1946.
1702 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA), which last disbanded during September 1946. It was formed in June 1945 at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, as a Special Service squadron. It was equipped with the Supermarine Sea Otter, and by the end of the Second World War the squadron remained at Lee-on-Solent. It joined HMS Trouncer in September 1945 to search for mines in the Mediterranean. A detachment of three aircraft were aboard HMS Ocean when the squadron disbanded at Malta and this became the Ship's Flight.
778 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. During the Second World War the squadron was a Service Trials Unit (STU) initially based at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, England before moving to HMS Condor, RNAS Arbroath, Angus, Scotland on 6 July 1940. The squadron tested all types of aircraft that could be used by the Royal Navy. Key to this was testing new types for deck landing on aircraft carriers. Such aircraft included various types of Supermarine Seafires, Grumman Hellcats, Grumman Martlets, Grumman Avengers, and Vought Corsairs. The squadron was reformed on 5 November 1951 with Douglas Skyraider AEW.1 but was disbanded on 7 July 1952 to form the basis of 849 Naval Air Squadron.
1791 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was formed on 15 March 1945 at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent as a Night Fighter squadron. It was equipped with Fairey Firefly NF.Mk I. The squadron joined HMS Puncher in June for deck landing practice but saw no action. Following V-J Day the squadron was disbanded on 23 September 1945 at HMS Ringtail, RNAS Burscough.
708 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which disbanded during February 1946. It formed during October 1944 at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, as the Firebrand Tactical Trials Unit, before moving to nearby RAF Gosport the following January. Tasked with looking into issues distinct to the Blackburn Firebrand the unit also performed deck landing training and torpedo exercises with the aircraft. The squadron moved to RNAS Ford where a number of personnel including the CO provided the core for the formation of 813 Naval Air Squadron, the Fleet Air Arm’s initial operational Blackburn Firebrand unit. The squadron relocated to RNAS Fearn at the beginning of December and then in January 1946 it moved to RNAS Rattray.
742 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which disbanded during August 1946. It was active initially from the end of 1943 as a Communications Squadron operating in Sri Lanka and India. It later became a Royal Navy Air Transport Squadron, covering the same geography.
754 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was active as an Observer Training Squadron from 1939 to 1944 as part of No. 2 Observer School, forming out of the School of Naval Co-operation RAF, in May 1939. It initially operated out of HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, however, after the Naval Air Station was attacked and bombed, it then moved to north to HMS Condor, RNAS Arbroath, Angus, Scotland, in September 1940. Here, it provided training for Observers and also Air Gunners and where four years later, in March 1944, it disbanded. The squadron then briefly reformed as a Air Gunner Training Squadron, as part of No. 1 Naval Air Gunners School, when 744 Naval Air Squadron was re-designated 754 Naval Air Squadron, in June 1944, at RN Air Section Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, until disbanding again, in March 1945.
760 Naval Air Squadron is a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. The squadron first formed in April 1940 as No.1 Fleet Fighter Pool with a variety of aircraft types before standardising in 1941 on the Hawker Sea Hurricane. In this role it disbanded in December 1942. In May 1944 760 NAS briefly reformed as an Anti-Submarine Operational Training Squadron before disbanding into 766 Naval Air Squadron in November. Reformed again as part of No.1 Naval Air Fighter School in April 1945 it converted fighter pilots to the Vought Corsair and then the Supermarine Seafire until 23 January 1946 when it disbanded.
770 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It last disbanded at HMS Nighthawk, RNAS Drem in October 1945. 770 Naval Air Squadron initially formed as a Deck Landing Training Squadron at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, in November 1939. Embarked in HMS Argus, and operated from the aircraft carrier and Hyeres la Palyvestre in the south of France, until it disbanded in May 1940. It reformed at HMS Merlin, RNAS Donibristle, on New Year’s Day 1941, as a Fleet Requirements Unit out of 771 Naval Air Squadron’s 'X' Flight. It moved to HMS Jackdaw, RNAS Crail, in June 1941, then two and half years later it moved to HMS Jackdaw II, RNAS Dunino in January 1944, before finally moving to HMS Nighthawk in July.
772 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which last disbanded during September 1995. 772 Naval Air Squadron formed as a Fleet Requirements Unit out of 'Y' Flight from 771 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Lee-on-Solent in September 1939. While the headquarters remained there, floatplanes were operated out of RNAS Portland, however, mid 1940 saw the whole squadron move north to RNAS Campbeltown and roughly twelve months afterwards the short distance to RNAS Machrihanish. The unit moved to RNAS Ayr in July 1944 and became the Fleet Requirements Unit School. In January 1946 the squadron moved to RNAS Burscough in Lancashire, before moving to RNAS Anthorn in Cumberland, in May. It became the Northern Fleet Requirements Unit upon moving to RNAS Arbroath, in June 1947, but disbanded into 771 Naval Air Squadron in October. 772 Naval Air Squadron reformed as a Helicopter Support Squadron at RNAS Portland in September 1974. In September 1977 the squadron took over responsibility for a number of Ships' Flights of Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships. The squadron was used to reform 848 Naval Air Squadron for the Falklands Task Force in 1982, with the Ships' Flights absorbed into 847 Naval Air Squadron. In August 1982 it took on the Anti-Submarine Warfare Flight from 737 Naval Air Squadron and between 1983 - 1985 a Search and Rescue Flight operated out of RNAS Lee-on-Solent.
773 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which was last active between September 1950 and March 1951. 773 Naval Air Squadron initially formed during June 1940, as a Fleet Requirements Unit in Bermuda, in support of ships on the North America and West Indies Station. It performed this role four almost four years and eventually disbanded, at Bermuda, in April 1944. The squadron reformed during June 1945 as a Service Trials Unit, at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent. Tasked with investigating pilotless aircraft as targets, it was known as the Pilotless Aircraft Unit (PAU). It moved to HMS Goldcrest II, RNAS Brawdy where it disbanded in September 1946. The squadron reformed at the start of 1949 as a Fleet Requirements Unit, out of 771 Naval Air Squadron, lasting around three months and repeated this at the start of 1950 and again at the end of 1950, into 1951.
776 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which last disbanded at the end of October 1945. 776 Naval Air Squadron formed as a Fleet Requirements Unit at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, at the start of 1941. It operated a detachment at RN Air Section Speke in 1941 and one at RAF Woodvale in 1942, with the squadron wholly moving to Speke in the October. 1943 saw further detachments and these were deployed at RAF Llanbedr, RAF Millom, RAF Usworth and RAF Waltham. In April 1945, the Woodvale detachment was reabsorbed into the squadron when it relocated there, the airbase now operated by the Admiralty and known as HMS Ringtail II. It moved to HMS Ringtail, RNAS, Burscough, at the start of October 1945.
780 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which last disbanded at HMS Seahawk, RNAS Culdrose in November 1949. 780 Naval Air Squadron formed at HMS Raven, RNAS Eastleigh as a Conversion Course Unit, in October 1939, to train experienced civilian pilots in naval flying. It moved to HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, in October 1940, and later, its role had changed to converting pilots to Fairey Barracuda aircraft. It spent a year at RNAS Charlton Horethorne, before returning to HMS Daedalus and disbanded, early 1945. In March 1946, the squadron reformed at HMS Godwit, RNAS Hinstock, as the Naval Advanced Flying School, to give flying instructors' courses, and later provided Instrument Flying Training. In December, the squadron moved to HMS Jackdaw, RNAS Crail, then in March 1947 moved to HMS Merlin, RNAS Donibristle, and in May to HMS Seahawk as the first resident unit.
781 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which disbanded at the end of March 1981. Planned as a Reserve Amphibious Bomber Reconnaissance squadron, it formed as a Communications Unit in March 1940 and operated a large variety of aircraft. It provided a Bristol Beaufighter conversion course which eventually became 798 Naval Air Squadron and also had a ‘B’ Flight at Heathrow and then Heston aerodromes before becoming 701 Naval Air Squadron. After the Allied invasion of Normandy the squadron flew to various Royal Navy units on the continent and established an ‘X’ Flight based in France and then Germany. In July 1945 the squadron disbanded into 782 Naval Air Squadron although the ‘X’ Flight was moved to 799 Naval Air Squadron.
782 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It initially formed in October 1939 as an Armament Training Squadron but disbanded in November to provide personnel for 774 Naval Air Squadron. In December 1940 it reformed at HMS Merlin, RNAS Donibristle, as the Northern Communications Squadron, providing links between the Naval Air Stations in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Shetland and Orkney islands. It finally disbanded in October 1953.
783 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which last disbanded in November 1949. 783 Naval Air Squadron was formed as an ASV Training Squadron at HMS Condor, RNAS Arbroath, Scotland, in January 1941. It operated a number of ‘flying classroom’ aircraft alongside other types. It operated in conjunction with the Naval Air Signals School (NASS) from March 1943. The squadron moved to HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, England, when the NASS moved south, also supporting the Flag Officer, Air, Home Communications Officer and from July 1948,it was part of the 51st Miscellaneous Air Group.
798 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which disbanded in March 1946. It formed at RNAS Lee-on-Solent, in October 1943, to provide advanced conversion courses, it initially operated with various single and twin-engined aircraft. Twin-engined aircraft broke away to become 762 Naval Air Squadron during March 1944. It had a detachment at RNAS Stretton for operational training for new Fairey Barracuda squadrons, but returned to HMS Daedalus at the beginning of August. The unit’s role changed slightly during 1945, providing refresher training, including Fleet Air Arm ex-Prisoners of War at RNAS Halesworth. The squadron moved to RNAS Hinstock, although operated out of its satellite RNAS Peplow, during November 1945.
799 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which last disbanded during August 1952. It initially formed as a Pool Squadron in South Africa during September 1943, sharing Fairey Albacore aircraft with 798 Naval Air Squadron and providing flying time for aircrew prior to front line squadron assignment, disbanding in June 1944. It reformed in July 1945 as a Flying Check and Conversion Refresher Squadron at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent. Made up of three distinct flights, two of those operated away from Lee-on-Solent with a flight at HMS Siskin, RNAS Gosport, giving junior officers air experience, and another flight at HMS Dipper providing Supermarine Sea Otter conversion training. By May 1948 the whole unit had moved to HMS Heron, RNAS Yeovilton. In 1951, 799 Naval Air Squadron relocated to RNAS Machrihanish.
United Kingdom 
Royal Navy 