History 

24. January 1946

 Jun. 1963

History 

The squadron was re-formed as an anti-submarine squadron of the Royal Canadian Navy on 1. May 1951, when, as part of a renumbering of Commonwealth Naval Air Squadrons, 825 Squadron, based at HCMS Shearwater, a Canadian Naval airbase at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and equipped with Fairey Firefly AS.5s, was renumbered 880 Squadron. The squadron, which regularly deployed aboard the carrier HMCS Magnificent, re-equipped with Grumman TBM-3E Avengers and was renamed VS-880 following the U.S. Navy naming convention in November 1952. In September 1957, VS-880 first embarked on Canada's new carrier, HMCS Bonaventure, and the squadron began to re-equip with Grumman CS2F-1 Trackers in October 1957, flying its last flight with the Avenger on 13. December that year. On 7. July 1959, the Tracker-equipped VS-881 merged with VS-880, leaving the enlarged VS-880 with a complement of 24 Trackers and 450 personnel. From January 1960, the squadron received CS2F-2 Trackers, with improved sensors, to replace its CS2F-1s, which were discarded by the end of December that year.

On 1. February 1968, VS-880 joined the newly established Canadian Armed Forces as the Royal Canadian Navy was merged with the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. HMCS Bonaventure was decommissioned without replacement on 3. July 1970, with VS-880 carrying out its last flight from the carrier on 12. December 1970. With the demise of HMCS Bonaventure, VS-880 was transferred to shore-based inshore anti-submarine operations, with its Trackers receiving the new designation of CP-121 on 27. July 1970. In December 1973, Canada declared a 200 nmi (230 mi; 370 km) Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and the squadron's role was changed to protecting the EEZ, which resulted in the squadron being re-designated MR 880, and anti-submarine systems being removed from its Trackers. Duties included fisheries protectionpollution and wildlife surveys and ice patrols over Canada's Arctic coasts, with the aircraft receiving new radar and communications equipment in 1978, and adding the ability to carry CRV7 rockets from 1982. It moved to CFB Summerside on Prince Edward Island in 1981. Late-1980s' plans to upgrade Canada's Trackers with turboprop engines were abandoned, and the fisheries protection role was privatised, leading to the squadron's Trackers being retired in April 1990. The squadron has never been officially disbanded and still exists as a "zero strength" unit