723 Squadron RAN

723 Squadron  is a Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron. The squadron was first raised in 1952 and throughout its history has served operationally during the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and in East Timor. It currently operates as a helicopter training squadron and is based at HMAS Albatross at Nowra, New South Wales.

History
723 Squadron was first commissioned into the RAN on 7 April 1952 and was equipped with one Dakota, one Wirraway, one Sea Otter and two Sea Fury aircraft. During the Vietnam War, personnel from the squadron operated as part of the Experimental Military Unit, a joint Australian-American helicopter assault and transport unit.

During the squadron's history, the battle honours "Vietnam 1967–71", "Kuwait 1991", and "East Timor 1999" have been earned.

Current roles
723 is currently active as a helicopter training squadron equipped with 13 Aerospatiale AS 350BA Ecureuil (Squirrel) and three Agusta A109E helicopters. The Squadron is based at HMAS Albatross (NAS Nowra). The Squirrels are used for conversion training all pilots, observers and aircrew from fixed wing to rotary wing aircraft. The Agustas joined the Squadron in 2007 on lease from Raytheon Australia and are used for multi engine training for pilots moving onto other aircraft such as the SH-60B Seahawk. They will be replaced by three leased Bell 429 helicopters from 2012.

Current

 * Aerospatiale AS 350BA Ecureuil (Squirrel) – training
 * Bell 429 - training, search and rescue, medevac and personnel transport.

Previous

 * Supermarine Sea Otter
 * de Havilland Tiger Moth
 * Auster Autocar
 * CAC Wirraway
 * Bristol Sycamore
 * Hawker Sea Fury
 * Fairey Firefly
 * Westland Scout
 * de Havilland Sea Venom
 * de Havilland Vampire
 * Douglas C-47 Dakota
 * Bell UH-1
 * Bell/CAC 206B-1 Kiowa
 * Westland Wessex
 * Hawker Siddeley HS 748
 * Agusta A109E