No. 37 Squadron RAF
No. 37 Squadron RAF | |
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Active | 15 April 1916 - May 1916, 15 September 1916 – 1 July 1919, 26 April 1937 – 31 March 1946, 15 April 1946 – 1 April 1947, 14 September 1947 – 7 September 1967 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Motto(s) | "Wise without eyes"[1] |
Battle honours | Home Defence, 1916-18*: Norway 1940: Dunkirk*: Channel & North Sea, 1939-40: Fortress Europe, 1940*: Malta, 1940,1942*: Greece, 1941*: El Alamein*: Italy, 1943-45*: South-East Europe, 1943-45* Honours marked with an asterisk are those emblazoned on the Squadron Standard |
Insignia | |
Squadron badge heraldry | A hawk hooded, belled and fessed, wings elevated and addorsed |
Squadron codes | 37 Apr 1937 - Apr 1939 FJ Apr 1939 - Sep 1939 LF Sep 1939 - Mar 1946 |
No. 37 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron of the First and Second World Wars.
History
First World War
No. 37 Squadron of the
As a result of the
The squadron became part of the new Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918.[13] As it was assigned to patrol to the north of London where attacks were less likely, it retained its obsolete B.E.12s well into 1918, receiving its first modern S.E.5s in May.[14] In October 1918, the squadron re-equipped with Sopwith Camels and in December replaced these by Sopwith Snipes. The squadron moved to Biggin Hill in March 1919 and in July 1919 it was renumbered as No. 39 Squadron RAF.[4]
Bomber squadron
In April 1937, the squadron was re-formed as No. 37 (Bomber) Squadron at
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/37_Squadron_Wellington_nose_art_Egypt_WWII_IWM_CM_407.jpg/220px-37_Squadron_Wellington_nose_art_Egypt_WWII_IWM_CM_407.jpg)
In November 1940, the squadron moved to the
In February 1941 the squadron was transferred to Greece to support Greek resistance to the
On 27 December 1941, as part of a re-organisation of the RAF's Egypt based-bomber force, 37 Squadron joined the newly established 231 (Bomber) Wing, based at RAF Shallufa and part of 205 Group.[37] From January 1942, the squadron was reinforced by aircraft and aircrew from 458 Squadron RAAF, whose aircraft had been flown from the Britain to Egypt via Gibraltar and Malta and on arrival had been split between 37, 70, 104, 108 and 148 Squadrons.[38] In February 1942, part of the squadron was detached to Malta,[39] with six aircraft arriving at RAF Luqa on 21 February and seven more on 22 February.[40] On the night of 1/2 March, Malta-based Wellingtons of the squadron attacked Tripoli harbour, hitting and damaging the 5324 GRT freighter Monginevro. On the night of 2/3 March, 10 of the Squadron's Wellingtons raided Palermo, sinking the 5945 GRT German freighter Rhur, and badly damaging the 6600 GRT German freighter Cuma, the Italian 5365 GRT steamer Securitas and the Italian torpedo boat Partenope. On 4 March, Cuma's cargo of ammunition exploded, sinking Cuma and Securitas and damaging many more ships. In total 42 vessels were sunk or damaged during the raid on 2/3 March or the explosion on 4 March.[41] Losses were heavy, however,[42] and by 18 March the detachment had been virtually wiped out by German attacks and accidents. Only one Wellington was still airworthy and could be flown back to Egypt.[43] In April that year the squadron was forward deployed to LG-09, (between El Daba and Fuka) to reduce the range to the squadron's main targets, but the advance of German and Italian forces after the Battle of Gazala forced the squadron to be withdrawn to the Nile Delta in June.[44] During the Second Battle of El Alamein, the British bomber force, including 37 Squadron, continued to attack the key port of Tobruk as a priority, while also attacking enemy airfields and concentrations of troops and vehicles on the El Alamein battlefield.[45] After the Allied victory in the battle, the squadron was moved westwards to aid attacks on the supply lines of the retreating German and Italian forces, moving first to El Daba and then in late November to Kambut in Eastern Libya.[46]
In February 1943, the squadron moved to Gardabia in Tunisia, replacing its elderly Wellington Ic aircraft with more powerful and better performing Wellington Xs.[47] On 18 February, 37 Squadron, together with most of the rest of the RAF's night bomber force in the Mediterranean and American day bombers, joined the newly established Northwest African Strategic Air Force.[48][49] While designated as a Strategic force, the distance to strategic targets from the airfields in North Africa meant that they were at first mainly employed on tactical operations.[50][51] The squadron flew operations against targets in Sicily during the Allied invasion of that island in July–August 1943.[52]
In December 1943, the squadron moved to southern Italy, settling at
On 2 October 1945 37 Squadron moved to Aqir, moving again to Shallufa in Egypt in December, disbanding there on 31 March 1946.[53] On 15 April 1946, 214 Squadron, an Avro Lancaster-equipped bomber squadron based at RAF Fayid in Egypt, was renumbered No. 37 which flew bombers until it was disbanded again on 1 April 1947.[53]
Maritime reconnaissance
The squadron reformed again at Ein Shemer Airfield in Palestine on 14 September 1947, as a maritime reconnaissance squadron equipped with Lancaster GR3s and with responsibility for patrols over the Eastern Mediterranean, and in particular the location of ships carrying Jewish illegal immigrants to Palestine.[53][56] In May 1948, at the time of the British withdrawal from Palestine, the squadron moved to RAF Luqa in Malta, coming under the control of AHQ Malta.[57] In May–August 1953 the squadron replaced its Lancasters with Avro Shackletons.[56][58] It flew in support of the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt in 1956 (the Suez Crisis), and in July 1957 the squadron moved to RAF Khormaksar in Aden, for patrols over the Red Sea and Indian Ocean,[56] with a secondary role of air support, including bombing fortified positions and strafing using the Shackleton's nose-mounted guns in counterinsurgency operations during the Aden Emergency.[59][60] A detachment was based at Bahrain in an attempt to stop gun running from Oman.[61] In 1961 the squadron flew in support of Operation Vantage, the British response to Iraqi threats against Kuwait,[62] and from 1966, as a result of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, supplied regular detachments to Mahajanga in Madagascar as part of the Beira Patrol, a British blockade of ships carrying oil to Rhodesia via Mozambique.[62][63] The squadron disbanded at Khormaksar on 7 September 1967.[64]
The colours of 37 Squadron are in All Saints' Church, Stamford.
See also
References
- ^ Pine 1983, p. 265
- ^ a b c d Halley 1980, p. 69
- ^ Jones 1931, pp. 167, 169
- ^ a b c Rawlings 1969, p. 103
- ^ Cole & Cheesman 1984, p. 198
- ^ Cole & Cheesman 1984, pp. 186–187
- ^ Cole & Cheesman 1984, p. 210
- ^ Cole & Cheesman 1984, p. 212
- ^ Cole & Cheesman 1984, p. 280
- ^ Cole & Cheesman 1984, pp. 250–254
- ^ "The History of Stow Maries". Anglia Model Flying Club. Archived from the original on 10 July 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
- ^ Cole & Cheesman 1984, pp. 224–225
- ^ Pitchfork 2008, p. 90
- ^ Cole & Cheesman 1984, p. 416
- ^ a b c d Moyes 1964, p. 55
- ^ Moyes 1964, p. 301
- ^ Ward & Smith 2008, p. 3
- ^ Ward & Smith 2008, p. 4
- ^ Ward & Smith 2008, p. 7
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987b, p. 86
- ^ Shores, Massimello & Guest 2012, pp. 449–450
- ^ Shores, Massimello & Guest 2012, pp. 450–451
- ^ Shores, Massimello & Guest 2012, p. 128
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987a, p. 81
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987a, pp. 81–83
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987a, p. 86
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987a, p. 232
- ^ Richards 1953, p. 298
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987a, p. 259
- ^ a b Shores, Massimello & Guest 2012, p. 455
- ^ Shores 1996, p. 168
- ^ Shores 1996, pp. 171–172, 174–176
- ^ Shores 1996, p. 180
- ^ Shores, Massimello & Guest 2012, pp. 455–457
- ^ Shores 1996, p. 229
- ^ Shores, Massimello & Guest 2012, pp. 459–463
- ^ Shores et al. 2012, p. 641
- ^ Shores et al. 2012, p. 642
- ^ Shores et al. 2012, p. 188
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1991, p. 90
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1991, pp. 100–101, 679–680
- ^ Shores et al. 2012, pp. 647, 649–651
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1991, pp. 127–128
- ^ Shores et al. 2012, pp. 176, 660
- ^ Shores et al. 2012, p. 684
- ^ Shores et al. 2012, p. 686
- ^ Shores et al. 2012, p. 694
- ^ Shores et al. 2018, pp. 16, 154
- ^ Craven & Cate 1983, pp. 162–163
- ^ Shores et al. 2018, pp. 7, 16
- ^ Craven & Cate 1983, p. 418
- ^ Shores et al. 2018, pp. 162, 274, 278
- ^ a b c d e Halley 1980, p. 70
- ^ Maurer 1983, p. 171
- ^ Moyes 1964, p. 57
- ^ a b c Rawlings 1982, p. 61
- ^ Lee 1989, p. 165
- ^ Jones 2002, p. 170
- ^ Rawlings 1982, pp. 61–62
- ^ Jones 2002, pp. 124–127
- ^ Jones 2002, p. 125
- ^ a b Rawlings 1982, p. 62
- ^ Jones 2002, pp. 122–123
- ^ Jones 2002, p. 123
- Cole, Christopher; Cheesman, E. F. (1984). The Air Defence of Britain 1914–1918. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-370-30538-8.
- Craven, Wesley Frank; Cate, James Lea (1983) [1949]. The Army Air Forces in World War II: Volume Two, Europe: Torch to Pointblank: August 1942 to December 1943 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-03-X.
- Halley, James J. (1980). The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-083-9.
- Jones, Barry (2002). Avro Shackleton. Ramsbury, UK: The Crowood Press. ISBN 1-86126-449-6.
- Jones, H. A. (1931). The War In The Air: Being the Story of the part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force: Volume III. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
- ISBN 0117726206.
- Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF). Washington DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1.
- Moyes, Philip (1964). Bomber Squadrons of the R.A.F. and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.
- Pine, L.G. (1983). A dictionary of mottoes (1 ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-7100-9339-X.
- Pitchfork, Graham (2008). The Royal Air Force Day By Day. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7509-4309-3.
- Rawlings, John D. R. (1969). Fighter Squadrons of the R.A.F. and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald & Co., Ltd.
- Rawlings, John D. R. (1982). Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Jane's Publishing Company. ISBN 0-7106-0187-5.
- Richards, Denis (1953). Royal Air Force 1939–1945: Volume I: The Fight at Odds. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
- Shores, Christopher (1996). Dust Clouds in the Middle East: The Air War for East Africa, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Madagascar, 1940–42. London: Grub Street. ISBN 1-898697-37-X.
- Shores, Christopher; Cull, Brian; Malizia, Nicola (1987a). Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete: 1940–1941. London: Grub Street. ISBN 0-948817-07-0.
- Shores, Christopher; Cull, Brian; Malizia, Nicola (1987b). Malta: The Hurricane Years 1940–41. London: Grub Street. ISBN 0-948817-06-2.
- Shores, Christopher; Cull, Brian; Malizia, Nicola (1991). Malta: The Spitfire Year 1942. London: Grub Street. ISBN 0-948817-16-X.
- Shores, Christopher; Massimello, Giovanni; Guest, Russell (2012). A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940–1945: Volume One: North Africa: June 1940 – January 1942. London: Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-908117-07-6.
- Shores, Christopher; Massimello, Giovanni; Guest, Russell; Olynyk, Frank; Bock, Winfried (2012). A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940–1945: Volume Two: North African Desert: February 1942 – March 1943. London: Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-909166-12-7.
- Shores, Christopher; Massimello, Giovanni; Guest, Russell; Olynyk, Frank; Bock, Winfried; Thomas, Andy (2018). A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940–1945: Volume Four: Sicily and Italy to the Fall of Rome: 14 May, 1943 – 5 June 1944. London: Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-911621-10-2.
- Ward, Chris; Smith, Steve (2008). 3 Group Bomber Command: An Operational Record. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword Aviation. ISBN 978-1-84415-796-9.
External links
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