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Valetta |
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Name : Valetta |
| Squadrons for : Valetta | ||
| A list of all squadrons known to have flown the Valetta. A profile page is available by clicking the squadron name. | ||
| Squadron | Info | |
No.167 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 18th November 1918 Fate : Disbanded 15th September 1958 Gold Coast Ubique sine mora - Everywhere without delay | No.167 Sqn RAF Full profile not yet available. | |
No.30 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 24th March 1915 Ventre a terre - All out | No.30 Sqn RAF Formed officially at Ismailia, Egypt on 24 March 1915 from an RFC detachment in the region, No. 30 Squadron spent several months in a state of flux before achieving full squadron status by the end of the year. With its predecessor having defended the Suez Canal against Turkish attacks during 1914,On 20 April, the half-flight left India for Mesopotamia (Iraq) to provide air support to Indian and British troops against the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). The unit was officially known as the No. 30 Squadron then formed several detachments to protect key installations in Mesopotamia, including the oil pipeline at Basra Upon its arrival in Basra on 26 May, the half-flight took delivery of two Maurice Farman Shorthorns and a Maurice Farman Longhorn. These three biplanes were of a "pusher" design, so-called because the propeller faced backwards, behind the cockpit and were already obsolete. In particular, they were not suitable for desert conditions: their top speed was only 50 mph (80 km/h), while the wind (known locally as the shamal) often reached 80 mph (129 km/h). Secondly, the warmer air reduced aerodynamic lift, rendering the Farmans unable to take off on some occasion . In April 1916, the Squadron carried out the world's first air supply operation, when food and ammunition was dropped to the besieged British forces attempting to defend Kut-el-Amara against the Turks. Despite the two-week operation, in which 13 tons of supplies were dropped using BE2s, Longhorns and Shorthorns, the garrison had surrendered by the end of the month. Reconnaissance and bombing then occupied the Squadron until the end of the war, when it was reduced to a cadre in April 1919. February 1920 saw the Squadron returned to full strength with the arrival of DH9s and RE8s equipped for the day bomber role. For the next 20 years, No. 30 Squadron remained in Iraq before moving to Egypt shortly before the outbreak of World War II. after the Italian declaration war in June 1940. No.30 Squadron's Blenheims were converted into IF fighters, and were used to escort bombers as they attacked Italian targets in the Western Desert. In November 1940 the squadron moved again, this time to Eleusis in Greece, as part of the British contribution to the Greek defence against the Italians. After the German invasion the squadron was forced to evacuate to Crete, and then back to Egypt. A great number of the British aircraft sent to Greece were lost in the fighting, and on their return to Egypt No.30 Squadron was reequipped with the Hawker Hurricane. For the rest of the year the squadron operated as a night fighter unit, defending Alexandria. hen the situation in the Far East worsened the squadron was transferred to Colombo Racecourse Airstrip in Ceylon arriving on 6 March 1942, just in time to assist in resisting the Japanese carrier strike against the island in early April. In February 1944 it moved to the Burma front flying escort and ground attack missions and in May 1944 was re-equipped with American Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, which it took back into action in October until May 1945.After the Japanese surrender the squadron remained in India and its Thunderbolts were replaced by Hawker Tempest F Mk 2s in March 1946. It was disbanded on 1 Dec 1946. On 24 November 1947 the squadron was reformed at RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire in the transport role, operating as a unit within the Royal Air Force Transport Command. It flew the Dakota on many humanitarian supply flights during the Berlin Airlift. Re-equipment with the Vickers Valetta came in December 1950. The heavier four-engine Blackburn Beverley was flown between April 1957 and September 1967. The Squadron temporarily disbanded in September 1967 but quickly reformed at RAF Lyneham equipped with turbine-propeller powered Lockheed Hercules transports, maintaining the units transport role. Reformed at Oakington in late 1947, as part of RAF Transport Command, the unit's Dakotas took part in the Berlin Airlift before being re-equipped with Valettas and moving to Abingdon in November 1950. In 1957, the Squadron received Beverleys, moving to Kenya in 1959 and then on to Bahrain some five years later. Having disbanded as part of the overall drawdown of RAF forces in the Middle East in 1967, No. 30 Squadron was reformed yet again at Fairford in June 1968 as a Hercules transport squadron, moving to its current base at Lyneham in 1971. From here, the squadron and its aircraft regularly deploy on operations, having been involved in almost every RAF operation in recent years to such locations as Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq amongst others. | |
No.52 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 15th May 1916 Fate : Disbanded 31st December 1969 Sudore quam sanguine - Through sweat other than through blood | No.52 Sqn RAF Full profile not yet available. | |
No.78 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 1st November 1916 Fate : 78 Squadron was disbanded on 30 September 2014 Nemo non paratus - Nobody unprepared | No.78 Sqn RAF No. 78 Squadron was formed as part of the Royal Flying Corps on 1 November 1916 for home defence at Harrietsham and tasked with protecting the southern English coast. It was originally equipped with obsolescent BE2 and more modern BE12 fighters. changing to Sopwith 1½ Strutters in late 1917, followed by Sopwith Camels in mid-1918. It arrived at Sutton's Farm, under the command of Major Cuthbert Rowden, in September 1917 and was there until December 1919, with a detachment at Biggin Hill. The squadron disbanded on 31 December 1919 re-formed in 1936 as a heavy-bomber squadron and in the second world conflict served with the Yorkshire-based No.4 Group. Beginning operations with Whitleys in 1940, it converted to Halifaxes in 1942 and continued with that type of aircraft for the rest of the European war. Among the highlights of No. 78's war record was its participation in the historic 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne on 30/31st May 1942; the epic raid on Peenemunde on 17/18th August 1943; and the attack on the coastal gun battery at Mont Fleury on 5/6th June 1944, in direct support of the invasion of Normandy. In February 1941, No. 78 Squadron supplied the Whitleys and some of the crews (other crews were provided by No. 51 Squadron) which figured in Operation Colossus, the first Allied airborne operation of the war and the one in which British paratroops destroyed a large aqueduct at Tragino in southern Italy. From July to October 1942, No.78 Squadron was commanded by Wing Commander JB Tait, who later led the combined force of Lancasters from Nos. 617 (the squadron he then commanded) and 9 Squadrons which, using 12,000Ib Tallboy bombs, destroyed the Tirpitz in Tromso fjord. No. 78 flew, a total of 6,337 sorties comprising 6,017 bombing sorties and 320 minelaying sorties; made 302 bombing raids and bombed 167 different targets; dropped approximately 17,000 tons of bombs - 7,000 tons (i.e. more than a third of the total) between D-Day and VE Day; successfully laid 1,064 mines; and destroyed 31 enemy aircraft and damaged 35. The squadron's own losses totalled 182 aircraft. On 7th May 1945, No.78 Squadron was transferred from Bomber Command to Transport Command.converting to Dakotas, moved to Egypt. Here, No 78 took up route flying around the Mediterranean, North Africa and Middle East, receiving Vallettas in 1950, before disbanding at Fayid, Egypt at the end of September 1954. No 78 took up route flying around the Mediterranean, North Africa and Middle East, receiving Vallettas in 1950, before disbanding at Fayid, Egypt at the end of September 1954. On 24 April 1956, No 78 Squadron reformed, this time in Aden as a tactical transport unit equipped initially with Pioneers and then the larger Twin Pioneer. Detachments were undertaken all around the region, and it was felt that some sort of firepower capability should be added to the aircraft, and so guns were mounted in the rear entrance and missiles fitted under the wings. In 1962, the unit achieved what is believed to be the first firing of a guided missile by the RAF in an attack against rebel forces in Aden - quite an achievement for a transport squadron! No 78 Squadron was disbanded in December 1971. The Squadron reformed on 22 May 1986 when No. 1310 Flight, operating Boeing Chinooks, and the Westland Sea King HAR.3 equipped No. 1564 Flight merged at RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands Originally operating the Chinook HC.1, these were later replaced with HC.2s. From 1988 to 2007, No. 78 Squadron was the only RAF squadron permanently based in the Falkland Islands. The four Tornado F3s which provide air defence are operated by No. 1435 Flight, while No. 1312 Flight operated a single Vickers VC10 and one Lockheed Hercules C.3. n December 2007, No. 78 Squadron reverted to its previous identity of No. 1564 Flight and a new No. 78 Squadron formed at RAF Benson as part of the Joint Helicopter Command, flying the Merlin HC3 and the new Merlin HC3A helicopters purchased from Denmark. By 2008, the total fleet of twenty eight RAF Merlin helicopters will be operated in a pool with 28 (AC) Squadron, also based at RAF Benson 78 Squadron was disbanded on 30 September 2014 | |
Last edited : 18:55, January 2, 2018
Last editor : HMS
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