The squadron operates ten Westland Sea King helicopters based at six airbases along the coast.

Headquartered at Sola Air Station, the squadron has detachments at Rygge, Florø, Ørland, Bodø and Banak.

330 Squadron RAF, which conducted maritime surveillance, Arctic convoy escort and anti-submarine warfare during the Second World War.

It relocated to RAF Oban in Scotland on 23 January 1943 and adopted Short Sunderland flying boats in the same role.

It was again reactivated from 1 March 1962 to 1 October 1968 to carry out maritime surveillance and anti-submarine operations from Sola, using the Grumman HU-16 Albatross.

[1] Norway has signed agreements with Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, the United Kingdom and Russia which under given circumstances may result in the 330 Squadron operating within these countries' territories.

[3] The Florø base is operated by the civilian contractor CHC Helikopter Service until the new SAR Queen helicopters are ready.

The unit's helicopters are used when the ordinary helicopter ambulances (Eurocopter EC135, EC145 and AgustaWestland AW139) are unable to operate due to weather; missions in which a large cabin is needed such as due to the number of patients or an incubator; and in areas where the Sea Kings are closer and areas where there is no ordinary air ambulance service.

The Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service ordered twelve Northrop N-3PB Nomads on 12 March 1940.

[17] The 330 (Norwegian) Squadron was activated on 25 April 1941 and based at RAF Reykjavik, also known as Corbett Camp, in the vicinity of Reykjavík on Iceland.

These had various backgrounds: 80 were trained at Little Norway; most of the rest were sailors from sunken ships or men brought in from Lofoten during the Operation Claymore raid.

Following the Allied Invasion of Normandy in June 1944, German submarines increasingly moved northwards and the 330 Sqn intensified its sweeping.

[39] From August the German tactics changed and the 330 Sqn's patrols moved steadily closer to Norway.

[40] During the period in Scotland the squadron flew 12,000 hours, carrying out 655 sweeps and patrols, 50 convoy escorts and 22 search and rescue missions.

Both squadrons were transferred to Norway in June, with the 330 Sqn being based at the water aerodrome at Sola Air Station.

[44] Command of the squadron was given to the newly formed Royal Norwegian Air Force on 21 November 1945, when RAF withdrew from Norway.

After completing its tactical and bombing training at Lista Air Station in March 1954, the squadron was declared operative.

All F-84G check-outs were carried out in the 330 Sqn, and the instructor pilots received twice the flight hours as their colleagues in other squadrons.

[45] Between the training courses the squadron practised bombing at Sola Air Station and participated in exercises.

[50] The Albatrosses improved the sweeping capacity and introduced news technology such as sonar, radar and magnetic anomaly detector.

Allied Forces Northern Europe determined that they needed full anti-submarine capabilities and opted to replace the flying boats with the Lockheed P-3 Orion.

[54] The task was given to the Ministry of Justice, who as a temporary solution from 1968 to 1973 signed an agreement with Helikopter Service to operate two Sikorsky S-61 out of Sola and Bodø.

Parliament approved the purchase of ten helicopters in 1970,[57] to be stationed at four bases, Sola, Ørland, Bodø and Banak.

[56] The 330 Sqn was assigned the SAR task and was headquartered at Bodø Main Air Station, with a wing at each location.

[59] The Sea Kings were designed to be maritime helicopters, but were increasingly used for terrestrial SAR missions, and on occasion aerial firefighting.

During the late 1980s the helicopters were often grounded due to lack of spare parts, which on 6 July 1988 hindered the unit form participating in aiding the sinking Piper Alpha oil platform.

[61] The role of the SAR service was evaluated in 1992 and it ended up with Parliament approving the purchase of two more helicopters, bringing the total to twelve.

Sola was the first base to receive an on-call room, allowing the response time to be lowered to 15 minutes.

[65] In competition with the AgustaWestland AW101, the Eurocopter AS532 Cougar and the Sikorsky S-92, Norway ordered fourteen NHIndustries NH90 helicopters in 2001 to meet the needs of the Royal Norwegian Navy.

This resulted in a project organization being established, Norwegian All Weather Search and Rescue Helicopter (NAWSARH).