14th Carrier Air Group

14th Carrier Air Group
White Ensign
Active	30 June 1945 to 23 July 1946 1 October 1946 - 21 December 1947 15 January 1948 - 2 May 1952
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Carrier Air Group
Size	One Colossus-class aircraft carrier plus support ships
Part of	Fleet Air Arm
Engagements	World War II Pacific War Air raids on Japan Korean War

The 14th Carrier Air Group (14th CAG) was an aircraft carrier air group of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was initially formed in June 1945, for service in the British Pacific Fleet, until disbanding in July 1946. The group was embarked on HMS Colossus (R15).

The 14th CAG reformed in October 1946, at RNAS Eglinton (HMS Gannet), in Northern Ireland, for embarkation on HMS Theseus (R64), until disbanding in December 1947.

It reformed a second time, in January 1948, operating in the Mediterranean and then seeing action in Korea, before disbanding a third time in May 1952.

Naval Air Squadrons

See also: List of Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadrons

The 14th Carrier Air Group consisted of a number of squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm.

Squadron	From	To	Aircraft
827 Naval Air Squadron	Jun 1945	Jul 1946	Fairey Barracuda
1846 Naval Air Squadron	Jun 1945	Jul 1946	Vought F4U Corsair
804 Naval Air Squadron	Oct 1946	Dec 1947	Supermarine Seafire
812 Naval Air Squadron	Oct 1946	Dec 1947	Fairey Firefly
804 Naval Air Squadron	Jan 1948	May 1952	Supermarine Seafire to Jul 1949, then Hawker Sea Fury
812 Naval Air Squadron	Jan 1948	May 1952	Fairey Firefly

History

1945 - 1946

The 14th Carrier Air Group was formed on 30 June 1945. It was based on the light aircraft carrier, HMS Colossus, the name-ship of the Colossus-class aircraft carriers, for service in the British Pacific Fleet. The group initially contained 827 Naval Air Squadron flying the Fairey Barracuda, a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber aircraft, and 1846 Naval Air Squadron flying the Vought Corsair, an American fighter aircraft. The group disbanded, when Colossus arrived back home, on 23 July 1946.

1946 - 1947

The 14th Carrier Air Group reformed, on 1 October 1946 at RNAS Eglinton (HMS Gannet), located 1.3 miles (2.1 km) north east of Eglinton, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, this time for the Colossus-class aircraft carrier, HMS Theseus, deployed as the Flagship, for the 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron in the British Pacific Fleet, with 804 and 812 Naval Air Squadrons. 804 Naval Air Squadron operated the Supermarine Seafire, a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft, adapted for operation from an aircraft carrier. 812 Naval Air Squadron was equipped with Fairey Firefly, a carrier-borne fighter and anti-submarine aircraft. The group disbanded, when Theseus arrived back in the United Kingdom, on 21 December 1947.

1948 - 1952

HMS Glory (R62) off Korea 1951, with 14th CAG onboard

The 14th Carrier Air Group reformed, on 15 January 1948, at RNAS Ford (HMS Peregrine),located at Ford, in West Sussex, England. The group was for the Colossus-class light fleet aircraft carrier, HMS Ocean (R68). It was made up of 802 and 814 Naval Air Squadrons again, the difference however, was that while both squadrons operated with the same aircraft, they now used later variants. The 14th CAG moved to RNAS Donibristle (HMS Merlin), located 2.7 miles (4.3 km) east of Rosyth, Fife, and RNAS Eglinton (HMS Gannet), located 1.3 miles (2.1 km) north east of Eglinton, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, before emabarking on Ocean, on the 24 August 1948, then arriving at RNAS Hal Far (HMS Falcon), on Malta, on the 1 September 1948.

In July 1949, 804 NAS swapped it's Supermarine Seafire aircraft for Hawker Sea Fury, a British Naval fighter-bomber aircraft, and 812 NAS received the FR.Mk 5 variant of the Fairey Firefly. Four Fairey Firefly NF.Mk I "night fighter" variant aircraft were also received, enabling the squadron to form Black Flight, which became known as the 14th CAG Night Fighter unit. In November 1949, the CAG transferred over to another Colossus-class aircraft carrier, HMS Glory (R62).

Aboard Glory, the CAG deployed to the Far East as the Korean War was now taking place. From April 1951 Glory and the 14th CAG, undertook a tour of nine, nine day patrols, off the West coast of North Korea. The aircraft carrier departed to Australia for a refit, but was back by February 1952, to undertake five more patrols, before returning home.

The 14th Carrier Air Group spent 316 days on patrols, during its time operating in the Korean War, amassing ~9,500 operational sorties. It disbanded, upon returning home to the United Kingdom, on the 2 May 1952.

Air Group Commanders

List of commanding officers of the 14th Carrier Air Group, with date of appointment:

1945 - 1946

• Not identified, 30 June 1945
• disbanded, 23 July 1946

1946 - 1947

• Not identified, 1 October 1946
• Lt Cdr G. R. Callingham, RN, 1 January 1947
• disbanded, 21 December 1947

1948 - 1952

• Lt Cdr J. W. Sleigh, DSO, DSC, RN, 27 January 1948
• Lt Cdr S J Hall, DSC, RN, 24 October 1950
• Lt Cdr F. A. Swanton, DSC, RN, 24 December 1951
• disbanded, 2 May 1952

See also

• List of Fleet Air Arm groups
• List of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy
• List of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm
• List of Fleet Air Arm aircraft in World War II

References

Bibliography

• Sturtivant, R; Ballance, T (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-223-8.
• Ballance, Theo (2016). The Squadrons and Units of the Fleet Air Arm. Air-Britain. ISBN 978-0-85130-489-2.
• Wragg, David (2019). The Fleet Air Arm Handbook 1939-1945. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7509-9303-6.