822 Naval Air Squadron

822 Naval Air Squadron
Squadron badge
ActiveRoyal Air Force
  • 1933–1939
Royal Navy
  • 1939
  • 1941–1946
Disbanded19 February 1946
Country United Kingdom
Branch Royal Navy
TypeTorpedo Bomber Reconnaissance squadron
RoleCarrier-based:
Part ofFleet Air Arm
EngagementsWorld War II
Battle honours
  • North Africa 1942-43
  • Arctic 1943
  • East Indies 1944
Insignia
Squadron Badge DescriptionWhite, an eagle displayed black armed and langued red crowned with the naval crown gold and holding in the dexter talon a winged thunderbolt white and in the sinister a grenade white both inflamed proper (1937)
Identification Markings
  • 701-714 (IIIF)
  • 901-921 (IIIF September 1935)
  • 901-912 (Seal/Shark/Swordfish)
  • U5A (Swordfish May 1939)
  • single letters (Swordfish from October 1941)
  • 4A+ (Albacore)
  • single letters (Barracuda)
  • single letters (Firefly)
Aircraft flown
Bomber
FighterFairey Firefly
Reconnaissance

822 Naval Air Squadron (821 NAS), sometimes known as 822 Squadron, is an inactive Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It was active as part of the Royal Air Force (RAF) before World War II and part of the Royal Navy during it. It most recently operated with Fairey Firefly FR.1 fighter/reconnaissance aircraft between September 1945 and February 1946 and disbanded at RNAS Machrihanish (HMS Landrail).

The squadron, established in April 1933, was a carrier-based unit created through the merger of the Fairey III aircraft from 442 and 449 Flight (Fleet Torpedo Reconnaissance) Flights of the Royal Air Force RAF into the newly constituted Fleet Air Arm of the RAF. Throughout its tenure with the RAF, the squadron employed various aircraft, including the Fairey Seal, Blackburn Shark, and Fairey Swordfish. Following its transition to the Royal Navy, it subsequently operated Fairey Albacore during the Second World War, and later, it also utilised Fairey Barracuda.