1851
NAS personnel assembled at NAD Townhill Camp on 25. July 1944, and
after passage to the USA in HMS Queen Mary formed officially at NAS
Bruswick, Maine on 1. September 1944 as a single seater fighter
squadron. Equipped with 18 Corsair IVs, it embarked in HMS Thane in
December for the UK. The aircraft were disembarked to Belfast on 14.
January 1945, which turned out to be rather fortunate, as the ship
was either torpedoed or mined the following day off the Clyde Light
Vessel, though it managed to make Greenock with the aid of a tow
from a frigate. 1851 NAS joined HMS Venerable with 24 aircraft in
March, and then spent some weeks in the Mediterranean before
continuing to southem India, where it beame part of the 15th Carrier
Air Gloup.
The Pacific war ended before it could see any action, but a
detachment was operational ashore during the occupatlon of Hong Kong.
Reducing in December 1945 to 12 aircraft, the squadron tansferred in
,June 1946 to HMS Vengence, but the following month this sailed for
the UK, where 1851 NAS disbanded on arrival at Devonport on 13.
August 1946.
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