No. 123 Squadron RAF

Last updated

No. 123 (East India) Squadron RAF
Active1 Feb 1918 – 17 Aug 1918
28 Nov 1918 – 5 Feb 1920
10 May 1941 – 10 June 1945
Country Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Branch Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg Royal Air Force
Nickname(s)East India
Motto(s)Swift to Strike [1]
Insignia
Squadron badge heraldryIn front of two claymores, in saltire, the points uppermost, a Tiger’s head erased.
The claymores indicate the sqn’s association with Scotland and the Tiger’s head its association as the third East India Sqn.
Squadron CodesXE

No. 123 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was a British aircraft squadron in the First and Second World Wars. [2] [3] It was disbanded for the last time on 20 June 1945.

Contents

History

First World War

The squadron was formed at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, England on 1 February 1918. On 1 March 1918 it moved to RAF Duxford to begin training as an Airco DH.9 unit using various aircraft. [2] [3] However, it was too late to see action and was disbanded on 17 August 1918. [3]

The squadron was formed again on 20 November 1918 at RAF Upper Heyford as a Canadian-manned unit, again using the DH.9. [3] It moved to Shoreham in March 1919 and was renamed No. 2 Squadron, Canadian Air Force until it was disbanded in 1920. [3]

Second World War

123 Squadron Spitfires and pilots at RAF Castletown, c.1941 123 Squadron RAF Spitfires and pilots Castletown WWII IWM CH 4180.jpg
123 Squadron Spitfires and pilots at RAF Castletown, c.1941

In May 1941 the squadron was formed again at RAF Turnhouse in Scotland with Supermarine Spitfires, assigned to provide escorts and shipping patrols along the Scottish east coast and the Forth Estuary. [3] The squadron was also assigned operational training duty; it took on new pilots and exposed them to operational flying before sending them to squadrons in England. [3]

In April 1942 the squadron personnel, without their aircraft, were shipped to Egypt. They arrived in June, but did not acquire any aircraft until October when Gloster Gladiators were used for training. [3] The squadron was moved to the Persian Gulf and was re-equipped with Hawker Hurricanes, assigned to protect Iranian oilfields against attack. [3] Six months later the squadron moved into the Western Desert of Egypt to undertake convoy patrols, [3] equipped again with Spitfires. It participated in the ground-attack role in Crete as part of Operation Thesis. [3] The squadron did manage to keep hold a number of Hurricanes into 1944 when it was moved again to India in the Chittagong area. [3] It was a busy time for the squadron with ground-attack sorties and bomber escorts and in June 1944 it re-equipped with the American Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, and continued in support of the Army operations and escorting Douglas Dakotas on supply missions behind Japanese lines. [3] On 20 June 1945 the squadron disbanded when it was re-numbered as 81 Squadron. [3]

Aircraft operated

[2]
FromToAircraftVersion
19181920 Airco DH.9
19411941 Supermarine Spitfire I
19421942Supermarine SpitfireVB
19421942 Gloster Gladiator II
19421945 Hawker Hurricane IIC
19431943Supermarine SpitfireVC and IX
19441945 Republic Thunderbolt I and II

Notes

  1. ↑ Pine, L G (1983). A Dictionary of mottoes . London: Routledge & K. Paul. p.  227. ISBN   0-7100-9339-X.
  2. 1 2 3 Jefford 2001, p. 58
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Orbis 1985, p. 3898

Related Research Articles

No. 155 Squadron RAF is a former Royal Air Force squadron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 17 Squadron RAF</span> Flying squadron of the Royal Air Force

Number 17 Squadron, currently No. 17 Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES), is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was reformed on 12 April 2013 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, as the Operational Evaluation Unit (OEU) for the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning.

No. 118 Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Air Force. Originally formed in 1918, it served as a fighter squadron in the Second World War, flying Spitfires and Mustangs. It flew jet fighters as part of RAF Germany in the 1950s, and Bristol Sycamore helicopters in Northern Ireland before finally disbanding in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF</span> Defunct flying squadron of the Royal Air Force

No. 312 Squadron RAF was a Czechoslovak-manned fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War.

No. 122 (Bombay) Squadron was a Royal Air Force fighter squadron during the First and Second World Wars.

No. 242 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force (RAF) squadron. It flew in many roles during the First World War, Second World War and Cold War.

No. 261 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War I and World War II. It was involved in the defence of Malta from August 1940 till May 1941 and the campaign in Burma.

The 335th Squadron, callsign "Tigers", is the oldest squadron in service with the Hellenic Air Force formed on the 10th of October 1941 at Aqir airfield in Palestine as a unit in exile. It is based at Araxos Air Base in the Peloponnese, forming part of the 116th Combat Wing. Until March 2008, the squadron was equipped with the A-7H Corsair, and is operating with 30 newly purchased F-16 Block 52+ aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 237 Squadron RAF</span> British Royal Air Force squadron

No. 237 Squadron was a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron. During the Second World War the unit was formed from No. 1 Squadron Southern Rhodesian Air Force for operations in North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 121 Squadron RAF</span> Defunct flying squadron of the Royal Air Force

No. 121 Squadron was a Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft squadron that during the Second World War was one of the three Eagle Squadrons manned by American volunteers. There is a Royal Air Force Air Cadets squadron, based in Nuneaton, which shares its number.

No. 243 Squadron was a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force. Originally formed in August 1918 from two flights that had been part of the Royal Naval Air Service, the squadron conducted anti-submarine patrols during the final stages of World War I. The squadron was later re-raised during World War II, operating initially as a fighter squadron in Malaya and Singapore during 1941–42. It was briefly disbanded just prior to the fall of Singapore, and was re-formed in mid-1942, again as a fighter squadron, and fought in the Tunisian and Italian campaigns in 1942–44, before being disbanded in October 1944. In 1945, after training on transport aircraft in Canada, the squadron moved to Australia where it operated in support of the British Pacific Fleet before disbanding in mid-1946.

No. 109 Squadron RAF was an aircraft squadron of the Royal Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron</span> Military unit

443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron is a Canadian Armed Forces helicopter squadron under the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It was originally a Second World War RCAF squadron that operated as part of RAF Fighter Command in Europe with the Supermarine Spitfire.

No. 229 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force, and is an officially accredited Battle of Britain Squadron. It became No. 603 Squadron RAF in January 1945.

No. 234 Squadron RAF had a long career within the RAF, being operational on flying boats in World War I and on fighter aircraft in World War II. After the war it remained a fighter unit till 1957. In its last incarnation the squadron was in turn Operational Training Unit (OTU), Tactical Weapon Unit (TWU) and part of No. 4 Flying Training School RAF until finally disbanded in 1994.

No. 165 Squadron RAF was a unit of the Royal Air Force that was formed during World War I and served during World War II. The squadron has been formed twice.

No 81 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It flew Fighter aircraft during the Second World War, and reconnaissance aircraft in the Far East after the war and was disbanded in 1970.

No. 136 Squadron RAF was a short-lived RAF unit that saw no action in World War I, but upon reformation became the highest scoring unit in South East Asia Command during World War II. Shortly after the war the squadron was disbanded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 130 Squadron RAF</span> Defunct flying squadron of the Royal Air Force

No. 130 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was a Second World War and Cold war fighter squadron, and later a strategic missile squadron.

No. 135 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron formed to be a bomber unit in the First World War and reformed as a fighter unit in the Second World War.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.