849 at Sixty – the Culdrose based 849 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm marked six decades of vigilance, since its formation in 1952 as an airborne early warning squadron.    Apart from a five year break at the end of the 1970s-beginning of the 1980s, 849 Naval Air Squadron and, for the past six years, its sister squadrons 854 and 857, have acted as the eyes of the fleet in peace and war.      Airborne Early Warning, has evolved to become ‘Airborne Surveillance and Control’.

849 Squadron re-formed in July 1952 at RNAS Brawdy (Pembrokeshire) flying SKYRAIDER and switched to the GANNET in 1960.   The GANNET was last in service afloat on the Aircraft Carrier ARK ROYAL and when that vessel paid off, 849 disbanded.   The Falklands War (1982) reaffirmed the need for airborne early warning, resulting in SEA KING being rapidly converted to the role in just 11 weeks.     That makeshift remedy became formal in November 1984 when 849 re-formed with the SEA KING AEW2 and eighteen years later, in 2002, the next generation was introduced with the advent of the SEARCHWATER 2000 radar fitted to SEA KING ASaC7 – the current equipment.