This is a list of Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm, Naval Air Wings. A Wing designation consisted a number to differentiate each one and a simple label for the role of the wing. Each wing was formed of a small number of Naval Air Squadrons and were mostly either a fighter wing or a torpedo, bomber and reconnaissance wing, and there included a proposed MAC ship (Merchant Aircraft Carrier) wing.[1]
The Fleet Air Arm squadrons, embarked on the Fleet and Light Fleet aircraft carriers, were grouped into explicit Wings from June 1943. Due to the existing Royal Air Force Wings having the same number designation, each Fleet Air Arm Wing contained the word Naval in its title. The Wings were each allocated a unique number and the name of each wing also contained the designated wings role. There were two significant roles with each wing being either a Fighter wing or a Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance wing, with the latter known as a TBR wing.[2]
From 25 October 1943 some of the Naval Air Wings started to form. Of the Naval Air Wings which the Fleet Air Arm planned to form up, these were never all realised.[2] Those Naval Air Wings which were serving within the British Pacific Fleet were placed into new Carrier Air Groups, effectively disbanding them, to align with US Navy policy, this once the Second World War in Europe had ended, to support Allied operations in the Pacific War against the Japanese in 1945.[3]
The remaining Wings were disbanded over the months following, this usually occurred when the aircraft carrier they were embarked on returned to a home port.[2]
The table below covers the initial eighteen wings that were formed from 1943 onwards. It doesn't include the 18th Naval MAC-Ship wing nor the proposed 31st TBR Wing.[2]
Wing | Formed at | Formed on | Disbanded at | Disbanded on | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2nd Naval TBR Wing | Unknown | 24 January 1944 | Unknown | Unknown | Renamed No. 2 Strike Wing on 10 December 1944[4] |
3rd Naval Fighter Wing | RNAS Burscough | 25 October 1944 | Unknown | 9 December 1945 | [4] |
4th Naval Fighter Wing | RNAS Burscough | 25 October 1943 | RAF Nutts Corner | 25 January 1946 | [4] |
5th Naval Fighter Wing | RNAS Eglinton | December 1943 | Unknown | 30 November 1945 | [4] |
6th Naval Fighter Wing | RNAS Burscough | February 1944 | Unknown | 30 June 1945 | [4] |
7th Naval Fighter Wing | RNAS Eglinton | 30 October 1943 | Unknown | 16 December 1944 | [5] |
8th Naval TBR Wing | Unknown | 25 October 1943 | Unknown | 3 October 1944 | [5] |
9th Naval TBR Wing | Unknown | 11 February 1944 | Unknown | 23 October 1944 | [5] |
10th Naval Fighter Wing | RNAS Eglinton | 14 October 1944 | Unknown | 30 June 1945 | [5] |
11th Naval TBR Wing | Ulunderpet/Ulundurpet?, India | 21 April 1944 | Unknown | 6 July 1944 | [5] |
12th Naval TBR Wing | Unknown | 24 January 1944 | Unknown | 28 December 1944 | [5] |
15th Naval Fighter Wing | RNAS Stretton | 8 November 1943 | UK | 28 July 1945 | [5] |
21st Naval TBR Wing | RNAS Machrihanish | 25 October 1943 | Unknown | 30 June 1944 | [5] |
24th Naval Fighter Wing | RNAS Henstridge | 25 October 1943 | Unknown | 30 June 1945 | [5] |
30th Naval Fighter Wing | RNAS Machrihanish | 10 October 1944 | Unknown | 30 June 1945 | [5] |
45th Naval TBR Wing | Unknown | 25 October 1943 | India | 21 April 1944 | [6] |
47th Naval Fighter Wing | RNAS Stretton | 17 January 1944 | Unknown | 30 June 1945 | [6] |
52nd Naval TBR Wing | Unknown | 26 November 1943 | Unknown | 9 July 1944 | [6] |
List of Wing Codes of the Fleet Air Arms Naval Air Wings, applied between 1943 and 1945.[17]
Letter | Wing name | Active |
---|---|---|
A | 15th Naval Fighter Wing | November 1943 - July 1945 |
B | 26 | (not formed) |
C | 29 | (not formed) |
D | 4th Naval Fighter Wing | October 1943 - November 1945 |
E | 16 | (not formed) |
F | 35 | (not formed) |
G | 28 | (not formed) |
H | 24th Naval Fighter Wing | November 1943 - June 1945 |
I | 11th Naval TBR Wing | April 1944 - July 1944 |
J | 44 | (not formed) |
K | 3rd Naval Fighter Wing | November 1943 - October 1945 |
L | 6th Naval Fighter Wing | February 1944 - June 1945 |
M | 18th Naval MAC-Ship Wing | May 1943 - July 1945 |
N | 40 | (not formed) |
O | 10th Naval Fighter Wing | October 1944 - February 1945 |
P | 30th Naval Fighter Wing | October 1944 - June 1945 |
Q | 43 | (not formed) |
R | 5th Naval Fighter Wing | February 1943 - June 1945 |
S | 49 | (not formed) |
T | 47th Naval Fighter Wing | January 1944 - June 1945 |
U | 22 | (not formed) |
V | 42 | (not formed) |
W | 7th Naval Fighter Wing | October 1943 - February 1944 |
X | 33 | (not formed) |
Y | 37 | (not formed) |
Z | 13 | (not formed) |
List of active Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm, Carrier Air Groups between 1945 and 1954: