RNAS Portland (HMS Osprey) | |||||||
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Near Portland, Dorset in England | |||||||
Coordinates | 50°34′08″N002°27′02″W / 50.56889°N 2.45056°W Coordinates: 50°34′08″N002°27′02″W / 50.56889°N 2.45056°W | ||||||
Type | Royal Naval Air Station | ||||||
Site information | |||||||
Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||
Operator | Royal Navy | ||||||
Site history | |||||||
Built | 1917 | ||||||
In use | 1917–1999 | ||||||
Airfield information | |||||||
Elevation | 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) AMSL | ||||||
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RNAS Portland (ICAO: EGDP) was an air station of the Royal Navy, situated at the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It was established in 1917 on the western edge of Portland Harbour as HMS Sarepta. From 1959 the station shared the name HMS Osprey, the anti-submarine establishment based at Portland, with helicopters used for research and development in anti-submarine techniques. RNAS Portland remained operational until 1999.
The original seaplane base was established during World War I, in 1917, as HMS Sarepta. The station used floatplanes, which flew coastal patrols to protect shipping from German U-boat attacks. [1] In August 1918 HMS Sarepta was taken over by the RAF, and a larger unit of 12 aircraft was formed as No. 241 Squadron RAF. [2] Following the Armistice in November 1918, the squadron was disbanded and aviation operations ceased at Portland in 1919. [3]
Following the inter-war period, a Fleet Requirements Unit, 772 Squadron, arrived at Portland in September 1939 and stayed until July 1940. With the fall of France early in the war, the Naval Base at Portland became a prime target for the Luftwaffe. As a result, HMS Osprey was moved to Cambeltown in July 1940, taking 772 Squadron with it, and leaving Portland's base to remain under Care and Maintenance. [1]
After the war HMS Osprey returned to Portland and a helicopter base became an important centre for the school to perform experiments and development. In 1946 Sikorsky R-4Bs moved in and the success of their trials at Portland led the Admiralty to replace fixed-wing aircraft with helicopters for use in the fleet. A major building programme followed at Portland, with the base's playing fields taken over as a landing ground, [1] while the old fleet canteen was converted into a headquarters building, containing the operations centre, a workshop and control tower. [2]
During the late 1950s the marshy area known as the Mere was filled in and built over, and later expansion meant that this tidal lagoon was completely covered. This created a large concreted area to produce the modern, large helicopter facility. [3] Upon the completion of the work, 815 Naval Air Squadron flew its 12 Westland Whirlwinds to the new Portland Heliport on 14 April 1959. [2] The station was formally commissioned as HMS Osprey on 24 April 1959. [2]
For the next 40 years RNAS Portland was one of the busiest air stations on the south coast. As a helicopter development and training base, it was largely responsible for training aircrew in anti-submarine operations. The site of the base was gradually improved over the years, [4] with considerable expansion in the 1960s and 1970s, notably between 1967 and 1970, with new hangars. [1] [2]
With the reduction of armed forces, Portland's naval base closed on 29 March 1996, with the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) moving to Plymouth's (HMS Drake). With this RNAS Portland became surplus to requirements, leading to its eventual closure on 31 March 1999. [5] RNAS Portland held its final open day for the public on 17 October 1998. [6]
Following the closure of the base, the 80-acre site was renamed Osprey Quay in 2001, as part of the site's regeneration project. The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy was established there in 1999 and began redevelopment in 2003. [7] A SAR helicopter operated by Bristow Helicopters for the MCA (Maritime and Coastguard Agency) was also based at the quay until 2017. [3]
By 2012 Osprey Quay had been transformed into a mixed use site. Aside from the academy, the site offered over 11 hectares of business space, along with a new Dean & Reddyhoff Marina, Portland Marina. [8] The redevelopment of the station's former Helicopter Control Tower has also been announced. [9]
With the removal of the Coastguard Helicopter Service from Portland on 1 July 2017 the site once again become surplus to requirements and in October 2016 the formal process for the disposal of the site was commenced by the Homes & Communities Agency. With much support from the local MP (Richard Drax) and the local population the company who provided the aircrew that fly the Coastguard helicopters at Portland, HeliOperations, has purchased the site. The company now provides training services for Search & Rescue aircrew. [10]
Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, Dorset, on the south coast of England. Construction of the harbour began in 1849; when completed in 1872, its 520-hectare (1,300-acre) surface area made it the largest man-made harbour in the world, and remains one of the largest in the world today. It is naturally protected by Portland to the south, Chesil Beach to the west and mainland Dorset to the north. It consists of four breakwaters — two southern and two northern. These have a total length of 4.57 km and enclose approximately 1,000 hectares of water.
Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, commonly referred to as RNAS Yeovilton, is a military airbase of the Royal Navy, sited a few miles north of Yeovil, in the English county of Somerset. It is one of two active Fleet Air Arm bases, the other being RNAS Culdrose). RNAS Yeovilton is currently home to the Royal Navy Wildcat HMA2, along with Army Air Corps Wildcat AH1 helicopters, as well as the Royal Navy's Commando Helicopter Force Merlin HCi3/4/4A and Wildcat AH1 helicopters.
Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm. First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and administrative centre of the Fleet Air Arm. Situated near Lee-on-the-Solent in Hampshire, approximately four miles west of Portsmouth on the coast of the Solent at grid reference SU560019, the airfield closed for military use in 1996 and passed through several owners until 2014 when the current owners Fareham Borough Council bought the airfield and re-branded as Solent Airport. The airfield hosts the Solent Enterprise Zone.
Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose is a Royal Navy airbase near Helston on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall UK, and is one of the largest helicopter bases in Europe. Its main role is serving the Fleet Air Arm's front line AgustaWestland Merlin helicopter squadrons.
771 Naval Air Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm was formed on 24 May 1939 at Lee-on-Solent as a Fleet Requirements Unit with 14 Fairey Swordfish TSR biplanes. The Squadron carried out various exercises with ships and provided towed targets for naval air gunners and was decommissioned on 22 March 2016.
702 Naval Air Squadron was a naval squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset and earlier at RNAS Portland in Dorset. As a training Squadron it trained all ground and air crew for the sister front-line maritime Lynx squadron, 815 NAS
The Royal Navy Observer School grew out of HM Naval Seaplane Training School at RNAS Lee-on-Solent as a result of a series of changes of identity and parent unit. From 1918 until 1939 the Royal Air Force was responsible for naval aviation, including training and provision of aircrew to the Royal Navy. With the return of naval aviation to the Royal Navy on 24 May 1939, the Observer School was established as 750 Naval Air Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm. During World War II the squadron moved to Trinidad to continue training aircrew. It was temporarily disbanded in October 1945. The squadron reformed in 1952 and is currently based at RNAS Culdrose, where it trains approximately 30 Royal Navy observers every year.
815 Naval Air Squadron is a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron flying the AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2 helicopter and is the Navy's front line Wildcat Naval Air Squadron. The squadron is based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset. The squadron is capable of carrying out multiple roles such as: counter-narcotics, anti-piracy, Above Surface Warfare (ASW), search and rescue, disaster relief and flying and engineering training. In the early 2000s, the Navy said that the squadron was largest helicopter squadron in Europe.
829 Naval Air Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. Before it was decommissioned in March 2018, it operated the AgustaWestland Merlin HM2 helicopter.
814 Naval Air Squadron or 814 NAS, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, is a squadron of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. It is currently equipped with the AgustaWestland Merlin HM2 anti-submarine warfare helicopter and is based at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Culdrose in Cornwall. The squadron was formed in December 1938 and has been disbanded and reformed several times.
The Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Force was the Royal Air Force organisation which provided around-the-clock aeronautical search and rescue cover in the United Kingdom, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands, from 1986 until 2016.
HMS Gannet is a forward operating base of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm located at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, South Ayrshire in Scotland.
Admiral Sir Brian Thomas Brown, was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel from 1988 to 1991.
737 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was initially active during 1943 as an amphibious Bomber Reconnaissance Training Squadron. Reactivated in 1944 it operated as an ASV Training Unit until 1945. It was active again between 1949 and 1957. From 1959 it was the Anti-Submarine Warfare school at RNAS Portland. It operated Westland Wessex HAS.3 rescue helicopters from their land base at RNAS Portland, Dorset.
The History of Royal Navy Helicopter Search and Rescue has its roots in the adoption by the Royal Navy of helicopters in the plane guard role. From a purely military tasking Royal Navy squadrons came to share the provision of search and rescue SAR coverage for the United Kingdom with the Royal Air Force and commercial providers under contract to Her Majesty's Coastguard, being responsible for two sectors out of twelve. From 2015 both the RAF and the Navy will surrender the civilian SAR role to contractors operating on behalf of the Coastguard.
HMS Osprey was an anti-submarine training establishment located at the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It was active between 1924 and 1941, and again from 1946 to 1999. The helicopter station RNAS Portland formed part of the establishment from 1959 to 1999.
719 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It initially formed in 1944 as a Fighter Air Firing Training Squadron, at RNAS St Merryn, within the School of Air Combat. At the start of 1945 the squadron disbanded into 794 NAS. The squadron reformed in 1946 at RNAS Fearn as a Strike Training Squadron, before moving to RNAS Eglinton, where it became an Anti-submarine Training Squadron, disbanding there in 1949.
744 Naval Air Squadron is a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was initially active in 1943, based in Nova Scotia. A second 744 NAS was formed, in early 1944, in Northern Ireland, for Merchant Aircraft Carrier training, meaning the first iteration was re-designated 754 NAS. The squadron's primary focus turned to Anti-submarine warfare training, which then further developed into trialing new submarine detection technology, ending in 1956. In 2018 it reformed as the Mission Systems and Armament Test and Evaluation Squadron.
HeliOperations is a British helicopter company based on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England, at the old Naval Air Station of RNAS Portland providing training and services. HeliOperations is the last operator of Westland WS-61 Sea King helicopters in the United Kingdom., providing training to the Marineflieger