page_title: 803 Naval Air Squadron
section_title: Post-war
hierarchical_section_title: 803 Naval Air Squadron / History / Post-war
caption_attribution_description: A Hawker Sea Hawk of No. 806 squadron (probably s/n WF168), Royal Navy, Royal Naval Air Station Brawdy, South Wales (UK), making a touch-and-go landing on the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Antietam (CVA-36). The Sea Hawks and other Royal Navy aircraft conducted trials on Antietam´s angled deck for four days while flying out of Royal Naval Air Station Ford, Sussex (UK), in 1953.
context_page_description: 803 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron.
context_section_description: When HMS Warrior was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy (as HMCS Warrior) in January 1946, 803 Squadron went with the ship. In May 1951, she was renamed 870 Squadron RCN, and the designation "803 Squadron" again became available to the Royal Navy.
  Re-formed in 1958, 803 NAS became the first FAA squadron to operate a nuclear-capable aircraft, when it received the Supermarine Scimitar F.1. (Eight years and five months later, she also became the last front-line FAA squadron to operate the Scimitar.) The squadron deployed aboard the newly-rebuilt HMS Victorious, and remained attached to her air group for the next two years, after which the squadron transferred to HMS Hermes for two years; during this period, the squadron had a normal complement of eight aircraft. It then moved to HMS Ark Royal, where the greater hangar capacity meant that the squadron's standard strength could be doubled to 16 aircraft. This was achieved when 803 Squadron subsumed 800 NAS (which was due to re-equip with the Blackburn Buccaneer S.1). 803 Squadron was again disbanded on 1 October 1966. The squadron's Scimitars were transferred to RNAS Brawdy, Pembrokeshire. There, they were overhauled, before flying to Airwork, at Hurn. Subsequently, many appeared went on static display in various parts of the UK.
  803 NAS was re-formed as the headquarters for the Buccaneer S.2 trials, on 3 July 1967, based at RNAS Lossiemouth. In August 1968, the squadron demonstrated the FAA's ability to reinforce forward-deployed carriers, when a flight of four Buccaneers flew from Britain to in the Indian Ocean, joining Hermes. Following a government decision to scale-down the British carrier force, 803 NAS was disbanded on 18 December 1969; her aircraft were transferred to the RAF.
caption: An 803 NAS Sea Hawk on USS Antietam in 1953.
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