FLEET AIR ARM 812 SQUADRON - Bomber, Fairey Swordfish I
History | Operations and losses | Sources | Links | Books | Questions and/or remarks
At the outset of war, the squadron's Swordfish were stationed at Dekheila, then sailed with her ship HMS Glorious to the Indian Ocean in search of enemy shipping, spending time in Ceylon and subsequently the Red Sea. On return to Malta and a refit in January 1940, the ship was recalled back to the UK for the German invasion of Norway.
The squadron was then disembarked to RAF North Coates with RAF Coastal Command and flew mining and bombing operations in coastal areas of Holland, Belgium, Germany and France, taking part in the defence of the Dunkirk evacuations.
From May 1940 until March 1941 they operated with Swordfish fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks in the rear cockpit and carrying a crew of only two. Their targets were usually oil tanks at Calais and invasion barges at Rotterdam.
In March 1941 the squadron left Coastal Command, a detachment of 6 Swordfish providing anti-submarine patrols for Gibraltar convoys from HMS Argus ferrying RAF fighters to Malta.
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Operations and losses 10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940
Not all operations listed; those with fatal losses are.
21/05/1940: ? 1 Plane lost, 1 KIA, 1 MIA
24/05/1940: ? 1 Plane lost, 2 KIA
30/06/1940: Mine laying, French or Dutch coast. 1 Plane lost, 2 POW
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21/05/1940: ?
Type: Swordfish Mk I
Serial number: ?, -?
Operation: ?
Lost: 21/05/1940
Sub-Lieutenant (A) John A. Allen, RN, H.M.S. Glorious [812 Sqdn], age 24, 21/05/1940, Kiel War Cemetery, D
Lieutenant (A) Robert C. Dundas, RN, H.M.S. Glorious [812 Sqdn], age unknown, 21/05/1940, missing. Commemorated on the Lee-on-Solent Memorial.
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24/05/1940: ?
Type: Swordfish Mk I
Serial number: K8380, -?
Operation: ?
Lost: 24/05/1940
Lieutenant Kenneth P. Gurr, RN, H.M.S. Glorious [812 Sqdn], age unknown, 24/05/1940, Oye-Plage Communal Cemetery, F
Lieutenant Ronald Carpmael, RN, H.M.S. Glorious [812 Sqdn], age 27, 24/05/1940, Oye-Plage Communal Cemetery, F
Shot down over the Calais-Gravelines road.
Sources: British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day; TOCH-Forum and CWGC.
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30/06/1940: Mine laying, French or Dutch coast
Type: Swordfish Mk I
Serial number: L7633, G3Q
Operation: Mine laying, French or Dutch coast
Lost: 30/06/1940
Sub Lt J.M.P. Davies, PoW
Sub Lt C.A. Conn, PoW
Swordfish shot down whilst on a minelaying operation in Northern France (according to FAAA) or this plane, based on Peregrine, was shot down over Holland on a minelaying mission (Naval History.net).
According to Ray Sturvivant, The Swordfish Story: 'Lost in areas 'Dabs' or 'Whelks'.
Sources: British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day and Fleet Air Arm Archive 1939-1945: Prisoners of War
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Sources
812 Squadron - Fleet Air Arm Archive
Air of Authority
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database
Australian War Memorial
Bail-outs for 1940
T.K. Derry (1952), The Campaign in Norway
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Casualty Lists Royal Navy
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Fleet Air Arm Archive 1939-1945
Fleet Air Arm Museum
Fleet Air Arm Archive 1939-1945: Prisoners of War
Flying Marines:
Timothy Armstrong Johnston
Lee-on-Solent Memorial (missing FAA members)
Prisoners of War captured in Europe 1940
RAF - Campaign Diary - The Battle of France (May-June 1940)
RAF Museum: British Military Aviation in 1940
RAF Order of Battle, France, 10th May 1940
Royal Air Force History Section
The Royal Air Force, 1939-1945
The Second World War - a day by day account
The War in France and Flanders, 1939-1940, by Major L.F. Ellis, 1954
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Books
Peter D. Cornwell, The Battle of France, Then and Now, 2008
Norman Franks, Air Battle Dunkirk
Ross McNeill 'Royal Air Force Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War' (Midland Counties)
Ray Sturvivant, Fleet Air Arm Aircraft 1939-1945, Air Britain Historians Ltd, 1995
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Links
Discussion Groups
Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
RAF Commands Forum
Other
Abbreviations used in the Royal Air Force
Code Names & RAF Vocabulary
Air Aces
Airwar over Denmark
Allied World War II Casualties in the Netherlands
Armée de l'Air - Order of Battle,
10th May 1940
Australian Wargraves
Axis History Factbook
Battle-of-Britain.com
De Belgen in Engeland 1940-1945 (in Dutch)
Belgian Aviation History Association Archaeological Team
British Aircraft Directory
British Aviation Archaeological Council - Books and research links
Canada's Air Force History
HMS Cavalier
Ciel de Gloire (in French)
RAF Squadrons
CWGC Cemeteries Germany
CWGC Cemeteries Netherlands
Czechoslovak airmen in
the RAF 1940-1945
Danish WW2 Pilots
Dutch Pilots in RAF Squadrons
Eagles Squadrons (American pilots in the RAF)
Foreign Aircraft Landings in Ireland 1939-1946
Håkans aviation page (from Sweden, in English)
'High flight', poem by John Gillespie Magee
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, poem by W.B. Yeats
Jagdgeschwader 27 (in German)
Luchtoorlog ('Arial War', in Dutch, with many photos)
Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth
The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945
Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
The National Ex-Prisoners of War Association
Naval History.net
Nordic Aviation during WW2
Pilotfriend.com: aircraft of WW2
Polish Air Force 1940-1947 Operations Record Books
RAF Battle of Britain
RAF Upwood
RAF WWII 38 Group Squadrons Reunited
De Slag om de Grebbeberg (Dutch)
Warbird Alley
War over Holland
World War II Aircraft wrecksites in Norway
www.bomber-command.de
Aircraft crashes on the North Yorkshire Moors, England
Bills-Bunker.de
The Lancastershire Aircraft Investigation Team
Luftfahrt-Archäologie in Schleswig Holstein (in German)
North East Diary 1939-1945
Wartime Leicester and
Leicestershire
The Aerodrome -
Aces and Aircraft of World War 1
WW1 Cemeteries
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This page is dedicated to the men of FAA 812 Squadron.
With thanks to Håkan Gustavsson
© Bart FM Droog / Rottend Staal Online 2008. Permission granted for use of the data gathered here for non commercial purposes, if this source is mentioned with a link to http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/index.html
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