History 

History 

1942 - 1944
898 NAS personnel assembled at Lee-on-Solent on 17. September 1942 and sailed in HMT Queen Mary to officially form at NAS Norfolk, Virginia on 15. October 1942 as a single seater fighter squadron. Equipped with 6 Martlet IVs, the squadron joined HMS Victorious in February 1943, sailing through the Panama caal to join the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months were spent in that theatre including a sweep in the Coral Sea area in May, followed in June by support for landings by U.S. troops in the Middle Solomons. The ship then sailed to the UK by way of Pearl Harbour and the Panama Canal, and on arrival at RNAS Eglinton in September 898 NAS re-equipped with 10 Wildcat Vs and ioined the 7th Naval Fighter Wing.
In December it ioined HMS Searcher for convoy escort duties in the North Atlantic, and in April 1944 provided escort for the second bombing force in an attack on the German battleship Tirpitz in Kaa Fjord. During the next two months numerous shipping strikes were made off Norway, duing which four Bv 138s and a Fw 200 were shot down. After esorting a Gibraltar convoy in June, the squadron amalgamated with 882 NAS on 5. July 1944.

1945
Reformed at RNAS Wingfield, Cape Town on 1. January 1945 as a single seater fighter squadron with 24 Hellcat IIs, it embarked in HMS Attacker for Ceylon in June 1945. After disembarking at Colombo Racecourse, August was spent at RNAS Puttalam and the squadron moved to Katukurunda. The aircraft were fitted with rocket projetiles in July, but the squadron failed to see action before VJ-Day, and the pilots were shipped home in HMS Pursuer without their aircraft, to disband on arrival, on 12. December 1945.

1951 - 1953
898 NAS reformed at RNAS Arbroath on 4. July 1951 with 8 Sea Fury FB.11s, as part of the 17th Carrier Air Group and joined HMS Ocean for six months of intensive flying in the Mediterranean. In February 1952 the squadron transferred in the Mediterranean to HMS Theseus, and then in July to HMS Glory and back to HMS Theseus in October rejoining HMS Ocean in Decenber it was amalgamated into 807 NAS on 1. January 1953, having spent almost the whole of its existence overseas.

1953 - 1956
On 24. August 1953 the squadron reformed at RNAS Brawdy with 12 Sea Hawks F.1s, exchanging these for 12 Sea Hawk FB.3s in July 1954. 898 NAS remained ashore until embarking in HMS Albion in September 1954 for six months in the Mediterranean. In May 1955 it joined HMS Bulwark briefly for a visit to Oslo, re-equipping on return with 12 Sea Hawk FGA.6s, then in September 1955 embarked in HMS Ark Royal. for a further six months speII in the Mediterranean, disbanding at RNAS Brawdy on 19. April 1956.

1956 - 1959
898 NAS next reformed at RNAS Brawdy on 30. July 1956 with 12 Sea Hawk FGA.4s, these being gradually replaced by FGA.6s from January 1952, in which month it joined HMS Ark Royar. In June it transferred to HMS Bulwark, returning to to HM Ark Royal in September 1956, then back to HMS Bulwark in Ncvenber, the squadron joined HMS Eagle in May 1958 for six months in the Mediterranean, having a further spelI in her in early 1959, before being disbanded at RNAS Brawdy on 30. April 1959.

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