Fleet Air Arm Patch 849 Naval Air Squadron NAS A Flight Sea King ASaC

Fleet Air Arm Patch Royal Navy A Flight 849 Naval Air Squadron NAS Sea King ASaC Airborne Survveillance and Control Helicopters RNAS Culdrose Carrier Embarked 1986 Large P&M made embroidered on wool 135mm by 105mm five and five sixteenth inches by four and one eighth inches.

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Squadron History 1961 2006

849 Naval Air Squadron NAS reformed at Royal Naval Air Station RNAS Brawdy on 7 July 1953 on the renumbering of 778 NAS equipped with ex US Navy Skyraider AEW 1 tasked with deploying detachments to the Royal Navys aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal Bulwark Eagle Hermes and
Victorious to provide Airborne Early Warning AEW.

Following the retirement of the Skyraiders in December 1960 the unit reequipped with Gannet AEW 3 in the same role operating from HMS Eagle Ark Royal Centaur Hermes and Victorious. Gannet AS 4 COD 4 and T 5s were also operated in supporting roles. The Squadron detachments continued as 849 B Ark Royal and 849 HQ RAF Lossiemouth until the Squadron disbanded on 15 December 1978.

849 NAS reactivated on 8 November 1984 with Sea King Mk7 Airborne Surveillance and Control ASaC helicopters following the short fall in AEW assets shown up during the 1982 South Atlantic campaign. The Squadron was headquartered at RNAS Culdrose operating 9 aircraft divided into three elements two flights A Aardvarks and B Bees and the Operational Conversion Unit OCU previously known as HQ. Each Flight was assigned to the Royal Navys two active aircraft carriers. The Squadrons Flights have taken part in many deployments including operations in support of the UN
in the former Yugoslavia Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Squadron disbanded on 13 December 2006 at RNAS Culdrose with A Flight renamed as 854 Squadron and B Flight renamed as 857 Squadron with Sea King ASaC 7s.

This patch dates from 1986