836 Naval Air Squadron
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836 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Formed in March 1943 to provide personnel and aircraft for the MAC ships, 836 was based at Maydown in Northern Ireland, not far from Lough Foyle, and commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Ransford Slater.
Slater had personally led the squadron's 'A' flight in the first attachment to MV Empire MacAlpine in April 1943 and he was the only regular Royal Navy officer in the unit, all others being wartime RNVR.
Slater had recognised from the outset that successful operations required the aircrew and ships crew to work together as a team. That was going to be a problem since traditionally the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy disagree on just about everything.
One thing he arranged was that the air party on the ships signed ships articles and hence placed themselves under the orders of the Ship's Master. For this they were supposed to receive one shilling per month and a bottle of beer per day. They got the beer - seven bottles every Sunday. It also entitled them to wear the small silver 'MN' lapel badge on their uniforms, which caused not a little upset with more traditional senior RN officers.
Another of Slater's rules for the squadron was that flight commanders must have completed a full round trip under another flight commander before being eligible to take over.
The squadron operated the Fairey Swordfish Mark II and they were painted all white (apparently the best camouflage for daylight flight over water). Some flights got carried away and replaced the Royal Navy legend on the rear fuselage with Merchant Navy - to the consternation of some observers.
With a flight for each of 19 ships, plus a few spare flights for training and relief, the squadron eventually grew to a strength of 91 aircraft, certainly a Fleet Air Arm record and probably a world one.
Some of the crews and aircraft were lent to 816 Naval Air Squadron during the middle of 1944. 816 NAS were based at Perranporth Airfield and carried out anti-submarine patrols under the control of Coastal Command. The loan was due to the expected increase of U-Boat activity in the Channel area as a result of the D-Day landings.
