823 squadron was formed on 3 April 1933 by a merger of No's 441 and 448 (Fleet Spotter Reconnaissance) Flights aboard HMS Glorious, a cruiser converted to an aircraft carrier in the 1920s.

Following a ship refit the squadron split its aircraft between HMS Courageous and Glorious when they sailed to the Mediterranean in August 1935 in response to the Abyssinian crisis.

In the early part of the war, the squadron sailed aboard HMS Glorious into the Red Sea and Indian Ocean to attack enemy shipping, returning to the Mediterranean in Jan 1940.

There HMS Glorious was sunk by the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst on 8 June 1940, and half of the squadron (5 aircraft) lost.

In June 1943 the squadron was re-equipped with Fairey Barracuda IIs at Lee-on-Solent and joined the 11th TBR Wing in southern India.