816 Squadron History

816 Squadron has its origins in the Royal Navy (RN) where it was first commissioned as an anti-submarine squadron on 3 October 1939 aboard HMS Furious, a Courageous Class light battle cruiser that had been converted into an aircraft carrier in 1925. Equipped with nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers, the Squadron carried out the first airborne torpedo attack of the war in April 1940. The Squadron joined Royal Air Force (RAF) Coastal Command in March 1941 and, returning from a mission escorting RAF aircraft being ferried to Malta, was embarked in HMS Ark Royal when she was sunk on 13 November 1941. The Squadron was subsequently disbanded but re-formed in February 1942. It disbanded and re-formed twice more during WWII and operated no less than five aircraft types. The Squadron was, for the most part, employed in convoy escort duties serving as far afield as the North Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica, and conducted operations in the English Channel during the Allied invasion of Normandy. The Squadron disbanded as a RN unit for the final time at Lee-on-Solent on 1 July 1948.

On 24 August 1948, 816 Squadron re-commissioned as a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) squadron at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Eglington, Northern Ireland. Equipped with the new Fairey Firefly AS-5 aircraft and commanded by Lieutenant Commander C.R.J. Coxon, RN, 816 Squadron formed part of the 20th Carrier Air Group (CAG) along with 805 Squadron.

An RAN Fairey Firefly

Aircrew began training in the UK, working up on a variety of aircraft loaned form the RN, the final phase of which was deck landing qualification aboard HMS Illustrious. HMAS Sydney (III),the RAN's first aircraft carrier, was commissioned on 16 December 1948 at Devonport in the south of England. 20th CAG performed a flypast to celebrate the event. The CAG embarked in Sydney on 15 February 1949 and spent the next few weeks working up at Moray Firth, north east of Inverness in Scotland. All of the pilots and observers in the CAG had extensive wartime operational experience but many had little or no deck landing experience. There were accidents, including one where a pilot from 816 Squadron managed to destroy five aircraft, all on loan from the RN, in one attempted landing. On 17 March 1949, Lieutenant Danny Buchanan crashed on Sydney's deck when his Firefly landed heavily and jumped the safety barriers. He first came down on Lieutenant John Gunn's aircraft (who had just landed himself) before hitting three more parked aircraft and coming to a stop close to the bows. Buchanan later rose to the rank of Commander and became Commander (Air) at HMAS Albatross.

LEUT Danny Buchanan's Firefly jumps the barrier attempting to land aboard HMAS Sydney.

LEUT John Gunn's Firefly (No. 227) after being hit by Buchanan's aircraft. The wing of Buchanan's aircraft struck right where Gunn's observer was seated. Luckily, the observer was doubled over in his seat retrieving a piece of equipment when Buchanan's aircraft crashed. He was uninjured.

Buchanan's aircraft in the aftermath of the crash. Luckily, no one was seriously injured but five aircraft were destroyed.

Sydney departed for Australia on 12 April 1949 and arrived at Jervis Bay on 25 May 1949. Fifty-four aircraft were ferried ashore and then transported some 30 km by road to HMAS Albatross at Nowra where aircrews found conditions somewhat primitive. Albatross was the RAN's first naval air station. Constructed on the site of a never-completed wartime airfield, it was still very much under construction when the first occupants arrived. Most of the aircrews and their families lived in caravans at the Nowra showgrounds which had been extended with large packing cases used to ship Spitfires to Australia.

Nowra airfield WWII

20th CAG re-embarked in Sydney in mid-January 1951, after the ship had returned from the UK to pick up the 21st CAG. Here they met the ship's new Executive Officer, Commander (later Admiral Sir) Victor Smith. Later that day, Smith introduced the entire CAG officer complement (about 35 people) to his captain from memory virtually name and rank perfect even though he had met most of them only once, such was his recall for detail.

On 16 February 1951, 816 Squadron and HMAS Sydney (III) experienced their first fatal deck landing crash. Lieutenant Bob Smith's Firefly crashed into the sea after his starboard wing was caught in funnel turbulence following a late wave-off. The aircraft struck the island and fell overboard killing Smith, though his observer, Petty Officer Keith Bunning, was rescued.

In February/March 1951 with the 20th CAG embarked, Sydney joined dozens of warships from a number of countries including the UK, Canada and New Zealand in a series of exercises in the Storm Bay area of south-eastern Tasmania. The CAG disembarked in April 1951, however, barely a month had passed before word was received that 805, 808 and 817 Squadrons were to comprise a new Sydney Carrier Air Group and would be departing for Korea later that year. 816 Squadron was disappointed to learn that it was to remain in Australia.

An RAN Firefly at NAS Nowra.

To make up for this disappointment, 816 Squadron arranged a flight around the eastern half of Australia leaving from Nowra and taking in Brisbane, Townsville, Cloncurry, Daly Waters, Darwin, Alice Springs, Oodnadatta, Adelaide and Mildura before returning to Nowra. The flight proved to be a great success both in terms of the RAN's public relations and in providing experience to flight crews in navigating, refuelling, inspecting, maintaining and flying their aircraft over long distances.

February 1952 proved to be a tragic month for 816 Squadron when it lost four of its members in two separate incidents. LEUT Brian Wall and SBLT Douglas Saunders were both lost on 19 February when their Firefly went missing and was believed to have crashed into the sea near Moruya, NSW. Just three days later, a Firefly carrying SBLT Durrant Small and Observer J.G. Sharp crashed into sea near Seven Mile Beach, NSW. Both Small and Sharp were killed.

A firefly on the deck HMAS Vengeance. HMAS Anzac is in the background.

In March 1953 Sydneysailed to participate in Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Fleet Review in England with 817 Squadron embarked. 816 Squadron, however, remained in Australia and, along with 805 Squadron, became the first Squadrons to embark in the RAN's newly commissioned aircraft carrier, HMAS Vengeance, in June 1953. The original intention was for Vengeance to deploy to Korea to relieve HMS Ocean. It was decided, however, that Sydney, and not Vengeance, would return to Korea with 816, 805 and 850 Squadrons embarked. Sydney departed Fremantle for Korea on 27 October 1953.

The July 1953 ceasefire meant that Sydney's second tour in Korea should have been a comparatively uneventful affair. However, the deaths of two pilots (one from 805 Squadron, the other from 850 Squadron) and the serious injury of an aircraft handler marred the deployment.

A Firefly catches an arrestor wire on the deck of HMAS Sydney in Korean waters.

Sydney departed for Australia on 4 May 1954 and arrived in Fremantle, via Hong Kong and Singapore, on 2 June 1954. After landing her aircraft at NAS Nowra later in the month, Sydney became a general service training ship. 816 Squadron embarked for short time aboard Vengeance before de-commissioning at NAS Nowra on 27 April 1955.

The squadron re-commissioned four months later on 15 August 1955 at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, England. Equipped with Fairey Gannet AS1s anti-submarine aircraft, the Squadron commenced its own training program at RNAS Culdrose and participated in the flying trials for the RAN's new aircraft carrier, HMAS Melbourne (II). The Squadron embarked in Melbourne for the carrier's journey to Australia in March 1956 and arrived in Fremantle on 23 April. The carrier disembarked most of its aircraft at Jervis Bay the following month before arriving in Sydney Harbour, with much fanfare, on 9 May 1956.

Gannets in formation.

The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) entered a period of uncertainty in the early 1960's with the announcement that fixed-wing naval aviation was to cease. Rotary-wing operations would remain taking on Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) duties. By the end of 1963, 816 and 724 Squadrons were the only FAA Squadrons operating fixed-wing aircraft until fixed-wing operations recommenced in earnest in 1968. In July 1964, 816 Squadron added a flight of De Havilland Sea Venom F.A.W. Mk 53 all weather fighters to its complement of aircraft.

A Sea Venom launches from the deck of HMAS Melbourne.

On 10 February 1964 at 8.56pm, HMAS Melbourne (II), with 816 Squadron embarked, collided with HMAS Voyager (II) in one of the most tragic accidents in Australian naval history. The disaster resulted in the loss of 82 lives, all from Voyager. Melbourne had been manoeuvring to find sufficient wind over the deck to allow for Gannet and Sea Venom Deck Landing Practice (DLP). The Commanding Officer of 816 Squadron, Lieutenant Commander Toz Dadswell (later Commodore Dadswell, AM) was approaching Melbourne in his Gannet at the time:

"I approached the ship from the port quarter in a descending turn. I noted that Voyager was not in the correct RESDES [Rescue Destroyer] position. At 2056 a huge ball of flame lit the sky. It was the boiler room of Voyager exploding. As a result of the collision, Melbourne had lost a number of aerials which had been lowered to the horizontal position for flying, so the ship asked me to activate the rescue services at Nowra. I advised Nowra that there was an emergency and to send all available helicopters to the scene and to also sail the search and rescue craft from Jervis Bay... It was an outstanding effort by the helicopter squadrons and in a very short time helicopters were over the accident area. In fact at one stage there were probably too many aircraft in the one small area... At first light the fixed-wing squadrons had aircraft there and we continued to fly all through the day in the hope of finding survivors."

The bow of HMAS Melbourne following the Voyager disaster in February 1964.

A re-appraisal of the Naval Three-Year Plan in 1965, due partly to a deterioration in the political climate in Australia's area of interest and partly to a lot of hard work at Navy Office, put fixed-wing naval aviation back on the agenda. In July the previous year, Lieutenant Commander Dadswell had been involved in the successful trials of operating a Grumman S-2E/G Tracker from Melbourne. The Department of Defence decided that the RAN would purchase fourteen Trackers and ten McDonnell Douglas A4G Skyhawk to embark in Melbourne following her re-fit in 1968. 816 Squadron continued embarked operations in Melbourne, most notably in ASW-oriented South-East Asian Treaty Organisation (SEATO) exercises. Following Exercise 'Sea Dog' in July 1967, Melbourne returned to Jervis Bay where the Gannets and Sea Venoms were flown ashore for the last time. 816 Squadron then de-commissioned on 25 August while preparations were made to receive its new aircraft.

HMAS Melbourne with Skyhawks, Trackers, Wessex and Sea Kings on deck and HMAS Brisbane acting as escort.

The fourteen Trackers and ten Skyhawks arrived in Australia aboard Melbourneon 21 November 1967. The Trackers disembarked the following day in Sydney where they were transported by road to Mascot Airport, checked, flight tested and flown to NAS Nowra later in the year.

816 Squadron re-commissioned on 10 January 1968, equipped with the new Trackers, and began DLP aboard the newly re-fitted Melbourne in March 1969. There were some initial concerns as the earlier trials had indicated that there was only a 1.2 metre clearance between the Trackers' wingtip and the ship's island when the Trackers' nosewheel was on the right hand edge of Melbourne's centreline. However, with Landing Signal Officers Paul Hamon, Graham Quick and Keith Johnson in close attendance, DLP progressed without incident for 816 Squadron.

A Tracker comes in to land on the deck of HMAS Melbourne

In May 1969, Melbourne , with her new CAG made up of 816, 805 and 817 Squadrons (flying Trackers, Skyhawks and Westland Wessex Mk31B helicopters respectively), departed Australia for the 'Sea Sprite' SEATO exercises in South East Asia. On 2 June 1969, 805 Squadron's Skyhawks successfully executed an attack on an 'enemy' Surface Action Group which had been spotted by 816 Squadron's Trackers. This marked the first time that RAN Skyhawks and Trackers successfully combined in exercises displaying the effectiveness of the RAN's aviation capabilities.

The exercises, however, were marred by a tragedy involving Melbourne. At 3.15 am on 3 June 1969, Melbourne collided with USS Frank E Evans recalling the HMAS Voyager (II) disaster five years earlier. No one in Melbourne was hurt but the American destroyer lost 74 lives. Melbourne made for Singapore for temporary repairs before departing for Australia and a new bow section. The CAG remained operational in spite of the extensive damage. A subsequent inquiry cleared Melbourne of any blame.

816 Squadron was based NAS Nowra but routinely embarked in Melbourne throughout the early 1970's to participate in multi-national exercises and deployments abroad. The Trackers earned a reputation as being a robust anti-submarine aircraft equipped with active and passive sonobuoys, anti-submarine torpedoes, depth charges, bombs and rockets. Shortly after re-commissioning, the RAN adopted United States Navy (USN) prefixes for its FAA squadrons and 816 Squadron became VS816 Squadron, indicating that it was classed as a fixed-wing, anti-submarine unit.

A pilots view as a Tracker approaches HMAS Melbourne.

The intrusion of foreign fishing vessels to the north-west of Australia was becoming increasingly problematic to the Government through the early 1970's, not least for the poaching in Australian waters but also for the threat of exotic diseases and possible drug trafficking. At the end of February 1975, three Trackers from VC851 Squadron began what was originally intended to be a one month deployment in Broome, Western Australia in support of Operation Trochus.

Flying operations started on 6 March 1975 and covered thousands of square kilometres from the mainland to offshore reefs some 550 kms north of Broome. The deployment was so successful in curtailing the illegal intrusion of foreign fishing vessels that the original one month deployment was extended to three. VS816 Squadron took over from VC851 in May 1975 and the two squadrons continued Trochus operations until December 1980 when the task was taken on by a civilian company.

A Tracker accompanied by two Skyhawks.

Both Tracker squadrons, VS816 and VC851, suffered major setbacks on 4 December 1976 when most of their aircraft were destroyed in a hangar fire at NAS Nowra. At around midnight that evening, 'H' hangar was engulfed in flames and all but three of the RAN's Tracker fleet were lost. One of these was at the Hawker de Havilland workshops in Bankstown at the time, undergoing inspection.

Around 100 RAN personnel and local Nowra fire fighters risked their lives battling the flames while trying to drag aircraft from the burning building. The Trackers' fuel tanks were fully loaded with volatile aviation fuel to avoid water contamination from condensation forming in the fuel tanks over the Christmas period. In spite of the inherent danger, personnel ran into the building and climbed into the cockpits of the aircraft to release the brakes and tow them clear of the hangar while the planes themselves were ablaze, in some cases, using their own cars to do so. They managed to pull five of the twelve aircraft in the hangar clear; two of them were repaired and returned to service. Their courageous actions drew high praise from the Minister for Defence, Mr Jim Killen, who said after visiting the site on 5 December 1976:

"If any people in this country think guts has gone from the Services, I invite them to reflect on what happened in the early hours of this morning."

Around 100 people risks their lives on the morning of 5 December 1976 battling the flames in 'H' hangar at NAS Nowra.

Police suspected arson and a Board of Inquiry was immediately announced. On 19 January 1977, a 19 year old junior sailor from one of the Tracker squadrons admitted to starting the fire. He was subsequently found to be mentally unstable at his court-martial.

The remains of a Tracker following the NAS Nowra hangar fire in December 1976.

The fire had crippled the FAA's fixed-wing ASW capabilities. However, the following months displayed the excellent relationship that the RAN had developed with the USN as the RAN's ASW component was not only replenished but increased in astonishingly quick time. Six more modern second hand Trackers had already been ordered in October 1976 and delivery was being organised at the time of the fire. This order was expanded to sixteen and an RAN team travelled to the US to hand-pick the aircraft from USN stores. The aircraft were duly supplied and the RAN received them at a massive discount, as much as 97 percent.

Following its participation in RIMPAC 77, Melbourne travelled to San Diego to pick up the replacement Trackers, arriving back in Sydney on 5 April 1977. The aircraft were flown-off on 5 and 6 April, still with USN markings, with some flying to the Hawker de Havilland workshops in Bankstown for further work and the rest directly to NAS Nowra to prepare for service. In less than six months, the FAA's fixed-wing ASW capability had gone from being virtually destroyed to a higher standard than had previously been the case.

VS816 Squadron in Pearl Harbour for RIMPAC 77.

816 Squadron re-commenced Trochus and embarked operations aboard Melbourne, effectively split into two separate flights, for the remainder of the decade. In spite of its commendable service, however, the future of fixed-wing naval aviation remained in doubt. The chances of acquiring a new carrier to replace Melbourne when she paid off in the mid 1980's became increasingly thin and Naval Aviation's focus became firmly fixed on rotary-wing and Vertical/ Short Take-Off and Landing (VSTOL) aircraft. It seemed almost certain that the Trackers and Skyhawks of the RAN would cease operations after Melbourne's demise. However, the surveillance capabilities of the Trackers, highlighted during the Trochus operations in northern Australia and anti-terrorism patrols in Bass Strait, suggested that they may yet have a future in shore-based ASW or surveillance tasks.

An 816 Squadron Tracker on patrol in Bass Strait.

This was not to be, however, and with Melbourne's decommissioning in June 1982 it was not long before the RAN's two front-line fixed-wing squadrons, VS816 and VF805 were disbanded at NAS Nowra on 2 July 1982. VC851 Squadron consequently absorbed VS816 into its complement.

The Squadron re-commissioned again on 9 February 1984 as HU816 Squadron operating the Wessex helicopter in a specialist army support role. Throughout this time it was often embarked in the heavy lift ship HMAS Tobruk and participated in the Bass Strait Counter-Terrorism Plan, known as the National Task, in conjunction with the Army's Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment operating from RAAF Base Sale. As safety and supportability issues caught up with the ageing Wessex's, National Task duties were transferred to HS817 Squadron late in 1986 and HU816 Squadron de-commissioned again on 30 June 1987.

816 Squadron detachment with their Wessex on the deck of HMAS Tobruk.

On 8 February 1988, the Seahawk Introduction and Transition Unit (SITU) was formed providing the foundation for the re-commissioning of HS816 Squadron four years later. SITU's task was to provide fully trained crews for the early trials of the new Sikorsky S-70B-2 Seahawk anti-submarine helicopter. As part of this training, the Air Warfare Systems Centre (AWSC) was opened at NAS Nowra the previous year. The AWSC not only provided simulator training for Seahawk aircrew but was also responsible for the development and maintenance of the complex computer software at heart of the new helicopter.

The program was interrupted when, on 2 August 1990, Iraqi armed forces invaded the neighbouring kingdom of Kuwait and eight days later, the Australian Government announced that HMA Ships Darwin, Adelaide and Success were to be deployed to the Gulf of Oman in Operation 'Damask', the Australian component of Operation 'Desert Shield'. Darwin and Adelaide both embarked Seahawks. The first task force arrived in the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) on 3 September 1990 and conducted its first interception and boarding, the 40 000 tonne Iraqi tanker Al Fao, on 14 September. It was the first search operation carried out by Australian warships in the MEAO and the first use of the Seahawk helicopter in an operational role.

Seahawks in formation

HMA Ships Sydney and Brisbane ('Damask II') relieved Darwin and Adelaide in early December while HMAS Westralia] relieved Success on Australia Day 1991. Seahawks remained embarked aboard Sydney.

On 17 January 1991, Operation 'Desert Storm', the final assault to push Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, commenced. The Australian Seahawks continued to perform a range of tasks including mine search, combat search and rescue, and early warning of any potential threat arising from Iran. By 26 February 1991, the war was over and the Australian ships left the Gulf on 22 March. The Aviation contingent provided by HS816 and HC723 Squadrons had contributed significantly to the RAN's capacity to perform in a combat situation.

HMAS Sydney's Seahawk conducting a HIFR in the Persian Gulf during Op DAMASK X

HS816 Squadron officially re-commissioned on 23 July 1992 in the unique situation of having embarked flights aboard HMA Ships Canberra and Darwin in the Middle East at the time of its commissioning. The Squadron continued to operate in the Gulf and North Red Sea for the next decade (Operations 'Damask III-X') enforcing United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iraq and continue embarked operations in the Gulf today as part of Operation 'Catalyst'.

The Seahawks have also regularly assisted in fire fighting efforts around the country, carrying large buckets of water to bush fire affected areas during the devastating fires in NSW in 1994, in 1998 on largely inaccessible bushfires on the NSW-Victorian border and again in 2003 in Southern NSW and the ACT.

Today, 816 Squadron operates detachments in the RAN's Adelaide class guided missile frigates and forms an integral part of the Navy's anti-submarine defence capability.

Seahawks over Uluru

816 Squadron is known as "The Fighting Tigers" and derives the Squadron motto, 'Imitate the Action of the Tiger' from King Henry's famous speech before the battle at Harfleur in William Shakespeare's Henry V:

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead.

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man

As modest stillness and humility:

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

Then imitate the action of the tiger;

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,

Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;

Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;"

Aviation Technician sailors standing by for directions to unhook HMAS Anzac's Seahawk Helicopter before take off during Joint Maritime Course exercises.

Chronology

Commanding Officers

Further reading

1. Australian Naval Aviation Museum, Flying Stations: A Story of Australian Naval Aviation, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, 1998
2. Eather, Steve, Flying Squadrons of the Australian Defence Force, Aerospace Publications, Canberra, 1995
3. Gillett, Ross, Wings Across the Sea, Aerospace Publications, Canberra, 1988
4. Jones, Colin, Wings and the Navy 1947-1953, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1997