It formed during October 1944 at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, as the Firebrand Tactical Trials Unit, before moving to nearby RAF Gosport the following January.

Tasked with looking into issues distinct to the Blackburn Firebrand the unit also performed deck landing training and torpedo exercises with the aircraft.

The squadron moved to RNAS Ford where a number of personnel including the CO provided the core for the formation of 813 Naval Air Squadron, the Fleet Air Arm’s initial operational Blackburn Firebrand unit.

[3] The squadron did manage to undertake Deck Landing trials with the Colossus-class aircraft carrier HMS Glory in the River Clyde during May,[2] and this later continued with the converted armed merchant cruiser HMS Pretoria Castle.

[3] In September 708 Naval Air Squadron moved to RNAS Ford (HMS Peregrine), in West Sussex,[2] here the Commanding Officer and several pilots provided a nucleus for the formation of the first operational Blackburn Firebrand unit, 813 Naval Air Squadron.