FLEET AIR ARM 823 SQUADRON - Bomber, Fairey Swordfish I
History | Operations and losses | Sources | Links | Books | Questions and/or remarks
On the outbreak of war, this torpedo spotter reconnaissance Swordfish squadron embarked from Dekheila, Egypt to HMS Glorious in search of enemy shipping in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
The ship returned to the Mediterranean in January 1940, the squadron operating from Hal Far, Malta until March 1940 when the ship was recalled for the defence of Norway. HMS Glorious was sunk by the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst on 8 June 1940, and half of the squadron lost.
On board were 6 Swordfishes of the Squadron; (CO: Lt. Cdr. C. J. T. Stephens RN).
The remnants of the squadron remaining at Hatston.
On 21 June 1940, 823 and 821 squadrons unsuccessfully attacked Scharnhorst, and on 24 July 1940 attacked enemy destroyers and shipping off Norway, and finally disbanded in December 1940 at Hatston.
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Operations and losses 10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940
Not all operations listed; those with fatal losses are.
18/05/1940: Operation Bottle, Norway. 2 Planes lost, 2 MIA
08/06/1940: sinking of HMS Glorious. 6 Planes lost, 9 MIA (FAA), 11 MIA (RAF)
21/06/1940: Scharnhorst, Norway. 2 Planes lost, 4 MIA
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18/05/1940: Operation Bottle, Norway
Returning from the Fleet Air Arm's first mining sortie in Norwegian waters - Operation Bottle -, a Swordfish of the 823 Squadron from aircraft carrier Glorious was lost and its crew killed. Another Squadron Swordfish force-landed.
Type: Swordfish
Serial number: ?, -?
Operation: Operation Bottle
Lost: 18/05/1940
Acting Sub Lieutenant (A) Harold D. Mourilyan, RN, H.M.S. Glorious [823 Sqdn.], age unknown, 18/05/1940, missing
Naval Airman 1st Class Roy Parkinson, RN C/FX. 77481, H.M.S. Glorious [823 Sqdn.], age 21, 18/05/1940, missing
Destroyer Atherstone unsuccessfully searched for the aircraft.
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Type: Swordfish
Serial number: ?, -?
Operation: Operation Bottle
Lost: 18/05/1940
Lt A.T. Easton - safe
Naval Airman ? - safe
Force-landed off Isle of Eday.
Sources: British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day and CWGC
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08/06/1940: sinking of HMS Glorious
See the HMS Glorious page.
Sub-Lieutenant John M. Franklin, RN, H.M.S. Glorious, age 21, 08/06/1940, missing
Lieutenant John L. Hallewell, RN, H.M.S. Glorious, age unknown, 08/06/1940, missing
Lieutenant Stephen F. Hebblethwaite, RN, H.M.S. Glorious, age 36, 08/06/1940, missing
Sub-Lieutenant (A) James H. Radcliffe, RN, H.M.S. Glorious, age unknown, 08/06/1940, missing
Sub-Lieutenant (A) George P. Ritchie, RN, H.M.S. Glorious, age unknown, 08/06/1940, missing
Sub-Lieutenant (A) Jack F. Shillitoe, RNVR, H.M.S. Glorious, [823 Sqdn.], age 24, 08/06/1940, missing
Lieutenant Garth Starkey, RN, H.M.S. Glorious, [823 Sqdn.], age 26, 08/06/1940, missing
Lieut-Commander Charles J.T. Stephens, RN, H.M.S. Glorious, [823 Sqdn.], age 32, 08/06/1940, missing
Lieutenant Basil J.C. Wise, RN, H.M.S. Glorious, [823 Sqdn.], age 30, 08/06/1940, missing
RAF groundcrew
Corporal George J. Bolland, RAF 561439, 823 Sqdn., age unknown, 09/06/1940
Leading Aircraftman Fred Green, RAF 520183, 823 Sqdn., age unknown, 08/06/1940, missing
Sergeant William E. Harris, RAF 550184, 823 Sqdn., age unknown, 09/06/1940, missing
Sergeant Howard T. Heatley, RAF 364108, 823 Sqdn., age 32, 08/06/1940, missing
Aircraftman 1st Class Dennis H. Helliar, RAF 610227, 823 Sqdn., age 19, 09/06/1940, missing
Leading Aircraftman Stanley James, RAF 551331, 823 Sqdn., age 19, 08/06/1940, missing
Aircraftman 1st Class John J. Kavanagh, RAF 547139, 823 Sqdn., age unknown, 09/06/1940, missing
Aircraftman 1st Class Ernest C. Reed, RAF 548718, 823 Sqdn., age 20, 08/06/1940, missing
Leading Aircraftman Thomas Rees, RAF 528427, 823 Sqdn., serving in H.M.S. Glorious, age 26, 10/06/1940
Leading Aircraftman Angus Stewart, RAF 550383, 823 Sqdn., age unknown, 08/06/1940, missing
Corporal Arthur E. Wise, RAF 521496, 823 Sqdn., age 33, 08/06/1940, missing
Aircraftman 2nd Class Eli Withers, RAF 538358, 823 Sqdn., age 21, 09/06/1940, missing
S/Lt I.V. MacLachlan and Midshipman E. Baldwin of 823 Squadron and other survivors were picked up by Norwegian trawler Borgund (303grt) which landed them in the Faroes on the 13th.
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21/06/1940: Scharnhorst, Norway
On 21 June 1940, 42, 204, 224, 233, 269, 823 and 821 squadrons unsuccessfully attacked the Scharnhorst
Type: Swordfish
Serial number: ?, -?
Operation: Scharnhorst
Lost: 21/06/1940
Sub-Lieutenant (A) Maurice P. White, RN, H.M.S. Glorious, [823 Sqdn.], age 23, 21/06/1940, missing
Naval Airman 1st Class Charles H.A. Hull, RN FAA/FX. 77524, H.M.S. Sparrowhawk, [823 Sqdn.], age 20, 21/06/1940, missing
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Type: Swordfish
Serial number: ?, -?
Operation: Scharnhorst
Lost: 21/06/1940
Sub-Lieutenant Leonard B. Cater, RN, H.M.S. Sparrowhawk, [823 Sqdn.], age unknown, 21/06/1940, missing
Petty Officer Airman Frederick W. Davis, RN FAA/FX. 76376, H.M.S. Sparrowhawk, [823 Sqdn.], age 23, 21/06/1940, missing
See also: RAF Commands Forum
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Sources
823 Squadron - Fleet Air Arm Archive
Air of Authority
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database
Australian War Memorial
Bail-outs for 1940
British Naval Aviation
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
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 Sturtivant & Theo Ballance, The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. Published by Air Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1994 ISBN: 0 85130 223 8
Ray Sturvivant, Fleet Air Arm Aircraft 1939-1945, Air Britain Historians Ltd, 1995John Winton, Carrier Glorious.. Publisher: Cassell, 1986. ISBN: 0304352446
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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
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 823 Squadron.
© 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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