The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC supported the British Army by artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance. This work gradually led RFC pilots into aerial battles with German pilots and later in the war included the strafing of enemy infantry and emplacements, the bombing of German military airfields and later the strategic bombing of German industrial and transport facilities.
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force.
Number 99 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force which operates the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III strategic/tactical transport aircraft from RAF Brize Norton.
No. 101 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Airbus Voyager in the air-to-air refuelling and transport roles from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire.
RAF Mona is a Royal Air Force station near Bodffordd on the island of Anglesey, Wales. It is primarily used as a relief landing ground for RAF Valley.
No. 7 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Boeing Chinook HC6 from RAF Odiham, Hampshire.
No. 149 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron between 1918 and 1956. Formed 1918 in the Royal Flying Corps as a night-bomber unit, it remained in that role for the rest of its existence which spanned three periods between 1918 and 1956.
No. 300 (Polish) "Land of Masovia" Bomber Squadron was one of several Polish squadrons in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was formed as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom in 1940. 300 Squadron is now represented by 300 Squadron of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets, which made the alliance with the Polish Air Force is 1994.
RAF Andover is a former Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station in England, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Andover, Hampshire. As well as RFC and RAF units, units of the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, Royal Canadian Air Force, United States Army Air Forces, and the Air Transport Auxiliary were also stationed at the airfield.
Number 100 Squadron is a former Royal Air Force squadron. It last operated the British Aerospace Hawk T1, providing 'aggressor' aircraft for air combat training from RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, UK.
The history of the Royal Air Force, the air force of the United Kingdom, spans a century of British military aviation.
No. 463 Squadron RAAF was a Royal Australian Air Force heavy bomber squadron during World War II. The squadron was formed in the United Kingdom in late 1943 from personnel and aircraft allocated from No. 467 Squadron RAAF. The squadron was equipped with Avro Lancaster bombers and flew its first raids on Germany immediately after being formed. Operating as part of RAF Bomber Command No. 463 Squadron conducted raids against cities, industrial facilities and military targets in Germany, France and Norway throughout 1944 and until the end of the war in May 1945. Following the war, the squadron evacuated Allied prisoners of war from Europe until it was disbanded in late 1945.
No. 467 Squadron RAAF was a Royal Australian Air Force bomber squadron, active over North West Europe during World War II. Formed in November 1942 as an Article XV Squadron in Britain, the squadron was notionally an Australian squadron under the command of the Royal Air Force, and consisted of a mixture of personnel from various Commonwealth nations. After becoming operational in early 1943, the squadron flew operations in Occupied Europe until the end of the war flying Avro Lancaster heavy bombers. It was scheduled to deploy to the Far East to take part in further operations against Japan, but the war ended before it could complete its training and the squadron was disbanded in September 1945.
No. 55 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1916 as a unit of the Royal Flying Corps. No. 55 Squadron was the last RAF Squadron to operationally fly the Handley Page Victor, in its Victor K.2 in-flight refuelling tanker role. It was subsequently a navigator training squadron based at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire. The squadron operated the Hawker Siddeley Dominie, a military version of the HS.125 business jet, until January 2011.
No. 106 Squadron RAF was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force squadron active from 1917 until 1919, throughout World War II and during the Cold War from 1959 until 1963.
No. 205 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit formed on 1 April 1918. Prior to this it had existed as No. 5 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). In 1929, it became the first RAF squadron to be permanently based in Singapore, taking as its motto Pertama di Malaya. No. 205 Squadron operated during World War II and the Cold War before disbanding on 31 October 1971.
Royal Air Force Eastchurch or more simply RAF Eastchurch is a former Royal Air Force station near Eastchurch village, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England. The history of aviation at Eastchurch stretches back to the first decade of the 20th century when it was used as an airfield by members of the Royal Aero Club. The area saw the first flight by a British pilot in Britain.
No. 83 Squadron RAF was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force squadron active from 1917 until 1969. It was operative during both the First World War and the Second World War.
No. 50 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was formed during the First World War as a home defence fighter squadron, and operated as a bomber squadron during the Second World War and the Cold War. It disbanded for the last time in 1984.
Air Vice Marshal Reginald Leonard George Marix, was a British aviator, originally with the Royal Naval Air Service, who later reached air officer rank in the Royal Air Force. He is credited with being the first pilot to destroy a Zeppelin, when in October 1914 he bombed the airship sheds at Düsseldorf. A flying accident in 1916 ended his flying career, but he remained in the Royal Air Force, serving in various staff positions, and during the Second World War commanded two reconnaissance groups, and from 1943 to 1945 the group responsible for ferrying aircraft from North America to Europe.
