Fleet Air Arm Patch 819 Naval Air Squadron NAS Sea King RNAS Gannet

Fleet Air Arm FAA Patch Royal Navy 819 Naval Air Squadron NAS Sea King RNAS Gannet Sea King HAS 5 HAS 6 Helicopters 1990s Embroidered on twill merrowed edge 83mm by 122mm three and five eighth inches by four and thirteen sixteenth inches.

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Squadron History 1961 2001

819 Naval Air Squadron reformed on 5 October 1961 at RNAS Eglinton from 719 Naval Air Squadron with one of 719 NASs Whirlwind HAS 7 and 2 newly arrived Wessex HAS 1 helicopters. 819 Naval Air Squadron became the second front line RN flying unit to be equipped with the Wessex. When RNAS Eglinton closed in February 1963 the Squadron relocated to RAF Ballykelly and Wessex HAS 3 helicopters arrived in April 1968. With RAF Ballykelly being handed over to the British Army 819 Naval Air Squadron was disbanded on 29 January 1971.

819 Squadron reformed on 9 February 1971 at RNAS Culdrose with Sea King HAS 1 helicopters to establish and prepare for the move to new facilities at HMS Gannet Prestwick to close the Irish Sea SAR gap to provide a naval aviation presence close to the Clyde bases and to provide protection for offshore assets around Scotland with the relocation taking place on 27 October 1971. The Squadron upgraded to Sea King HAS 2 helicopters in December 1977 followed by Sea King HAS 5s in February 1985 and then received a number of HAS 6s in April 1989 transferred from 824 Squadron before its inactivation. 819 NAS absorbed the remaining 2 Sea King HAS 5s from 824 Squadron in August 1989 and took over the four HAS 6 aircraft from A B C and D Flights of 826 Naval Air Squadron in July 1993.

On 31 October 2001 the unit formally disbanded by becoming the HMS Gannet SAR Flight of 771 Naval Air Squadron.

This patch dates from the mid 1990s