803 Naval Air Squadron 803 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron . History . Interwar . 803 NAS was formed on 3 April 1933 by promoting No 409 ( Fleet Fighter ) Flight to the status of a squadron , with nine Ospreys . In the same month it embarked on for the Far East , where it remained ( transferring to in January 1935 ) until disbandment on 1 October 1937 . 803 Squadron was re - formed on 21 November 1938 at RNAS Worthy Down out of ' B ' Flight of No 800 Squadron . Equipped with six " Osprey " s and three Nimrods , then ( from December 1938 ) six Skuas and three " Nimrod " s , the squadron embarked on the in April 1938 as an RAF squadron but was transferred to Admiralty control on 24 May 1939 . World War Two . At the outbreak of World War II , the Skuas and Rocs which formed 803 Squadron were embarked on . Operating out of Scapa Flow , the squadron carried out anti - submarine patrols in the Northwestern Approaches ( losing two " Skua " s in an attack on on 14 September 1939 and defending ) and regular patrols off Norway ( during which the squadron shot down the first German aircraft to be shot down by a British aircraft in the war , a Dornier 18 , on 26 September 1939 ) . The squadron ' s activities continued off Norway ( though leaving her Rocs behind ) , operating there in April 1940 from . 803 and 800 Squadrons successfully dive bombed and sank the at Bergen ( with 800 providing five aircraft and seven crews in contrast to 803 ' s eleven aircraft and nine crews ) , though an attack by 803 from " Ark Royal " on the in June was less successful , with the loss of all but two aircraft . 803 Squadron was re - formed ( with Fairey Fulmar I ) in October 1940 , and after that served in the Eastern Mediterranean off , fighting at the Battle of Cape Matapan ( shooting down two aircraft and damaging two more ) and providing fighter cover for the Malta convoys and the evacuation of Crete . After HMS " Formidable " was damaged at Crete , 803 Squadron moved to Dekheila , where it was re - quipped with RAF Hurricanes . Next it was based in Palestine for operations against Syria from June 1941 , then in August 1941 was merged into the RN Fighter Squadron ( a combined unit fighting in the Western Desert ) . Re - equipped again with Fairey Fulmar II in March 1942 , it next operated from Ceylon against the Japanese ( such as against the Easter Sunday Raid ) , rejoining HMS " Formidable " in the Indian Ocean in April . 803 Squadron then saw operations in East Africa in 1943 , before absorbing 806 Squadron for army co - operation exercises . The new combined squadron was disbanded at Tanga in August 1943 , and only re - formed in June 1945 ready to join 19th Carrier Air Group in the Far Eastern theatre . At the re - formation it was based at Arbroath and equipped with 25 Seafire L . IIIs , but just as it was about to ship out to the Far East in August 1945 , the war came to an end . Post - war . 803 Squadron was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in January 1946 when was commisissoned , in which she was re - numbered 870 Squadron ( RCN ) in May 1951 ( with the 803 designation returning to the Royal Navy ) . 803 NAS became the first FAA squadron to operate a ' nuclear capable ' aircraft in 1958 when it received the Supermarine Scimitar F . 1 . The squadron deployed aboard the newly rebuilt carrier and remained attached to her air group for the next two years , after which the squadron transferred to for another two years then finally to . From first commissioning until it joined the " Ark Royal " , the squadron had a normal complement of eight aircraft , but when assigned to the " Ark Royal " ´s air group the ships larger size and hangar capacity meant the squadron strength could be doubled to 16 aircraft . This was achieved by merging 800 NAS into 803 Squadron , as the former was due to re - equip with Blackburn Buccaneer S . 1 aircraft . 803 NAS had the distinction of being both the first and last " Scimitar " frontline squadron in the Royal Navy , and disbanded on 1 October 1966 after eight years and five months in commission . The " Scimitar " s went to RNAS Brawdy , Pembrokeshire . There , they were overhauled before flying to Airworks at Hurn . Subsequently many appeared around the UK on display at large establishments . 803 NAS reformed as the " Buccaneer S . 2 " trials and headquarters squadron on 3 July 1967 , based at RNAS Lossiemouth , and in August 1968 demonstrated the FAA ' s ability to reinforce forward deployed carriers when a flight of four " Buccaneer S . 2 " s flew from Britain to HMS " Hermes " in the Indian Ocean . With the rundown of the British carrier force , 803 NAS was disbanded on 18 December 1969 and the aircraft were transferred to the RAF .