SEA OTTER in RN FAA Post War Service

Folks,

I am in a dispute about the Sea Otter in the Fleet Air Arm service. Two publications I have state it was the last biplane in FAA squadron service, serving till the early 1950s till replaced by helicopters. Another person has pointed me to a webpage (I don’t think it is official RN, but I have no way of knowing) just stating “1939-1945 Post War”. I can not find the publication, but I saw in AEROPLANE or Airfex(sp?) a photo showing a Sea Otter post war at Malta with Sea Furys in the background. Below I have posted the link that the other person used in the debate.

http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/SeaOtter.htm

Any information or photos of the Sea Otter post 1945 in FAA service would be greatly appreciated. Or information that those two sources were in error.

Jack E. Hammond

Well, people will go to such websites (the information on which, incidentally, appears very familiar!:mad: ) instead of using original research sources. If you want info on post-war FAA types then try “Fleet Air Arm Fixed-Wings Aircraft since 1946” published by Air-Britain Historians 😀 _ The Sea Otter carried on in service until around 1953 whereupon it was replaced by the helicopter in the SAR and Stn Flt roles.

In actual fact the last biplane in FAA SQUADRON service (as opposed to other units such as Britannia Flt with Tiger Moths or various station flights/RNHF etc) would have been DH.89A Dominie NF864 of 781 NAS at RNAS Lee-on-Solent which soldiered on until 1963.