No. 1 Squadron RAF Regiment

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For other squadrons with this name, see 1 Squadron (disambiguation).

No. 1 Squadron, RAF Regiment
Air Force Infantry
RoleGround Defence
Garrison/HQRAF Honington, Suffolk
Motto(s)Swift and Sudden[1]
Battle honoursKurdistan 1922-23
Kurdistan 1930-31
Palestine 1936
Habbaniya, Iraq 1941
Egypt & Libya 1941-43
Gulf 1991
Former Yugoslavia Jun 95
Bosnia - Jun 97
Kuwait - Feb 99 (Op DESERT FOX)
Iraq 2003 - 2011
Afghanistan 2001-2014

No. 1 Squadron RAF Regiment is a field squadron of the RAF Regiment in the Royal Air Force. Its mission is protection of RAF bases from ground attack, and patrolling a large area around main operating bases abroad, in order to defend aircraft on ingress and egress from surface to air attack. It is currently based at RAF Honington.

History

It is a unit with a long history having its origin on 22 December 1921, when "

No. 2701 Squadron RAF Regiment, and then on 25 February 1947 was renamed No. 1 (Armoured Car) Squadron RAF Regiment. The squadron initially retained its armoured car role, but lost this in 1953 when it assumed the dismounted field squadron role. The squadron was re-roled to a Light Anti-Aircraft unit in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was then re-roled as a light armoured squadron, equipped initially with Saracen Armoured Personnel Carriers, and subsequently with the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked)
series of vehicles, including Scorpion, Spartan, Sultan and Samson. In 1992, the RAF Regiment withdrew the CVR(T) from service and No. 1 Squadron reverted to the field role, in which it has remained since.

During the

16 Air Assault Brigade and subsequently with 3 Commando Brigade. It was awarded the battle honour Iraq 2003 for its contribution. The squadron has returned to Iraq on three occasions since 2003, defending the Contingency Operating Base at Basra
.

Casualties

On 19 July 2007, two

Leading Aircraftman Martin ‘Beardy’ Beard from Mansfield was killed during a fire fight with Iraqi insurgents in the Battle of Al Waki Market. This last action resulted in the award of the Military Cross to one of the section commanders. The Officer Commanding, Sqn Ldr Sutton was awarded the OBE.[3]

During No 1. Squadron's last tour (2010) defending

Bastion Air Base (Helmand Province, Afghanistan) the squadron lost two gunners; Senior Aircraftman Kinikki Griffiths who was involved in a road traffic accident on patrol whilst serving with B flight[4] and Senior Aircraftman Scott Hughes (C flight). Hughes was killed when he was hit by a British Army Power boat in Cyprus whilst swimming in a recreation area during decompression (a period of rest and relaxation which is thought to help troops relax before returning home).[5]

References

  1. ISBN 0-7100-9339-X
    .
  2. BBC
    . 21 July 2007. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  3. ^ "No. 58633". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 March 2008. p. 3615.
  4. ^ "Senior Aircraftman Kinikki 'Griff' Griffiths killed in a vehicle accident in Afghanistan". gov.uk. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  5. ^ "Senior Aircraftman Scott Hughes dies in Cyprus". gov.uk. 9 November 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2013.

External links

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