No. 51 Squadron RAF

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No. 51 Squadron RAF
Squadron badge
Squadron badge
Active15 May 1916 – 1 April 1918 (RFC)
1 April 1918 – 13 June 1919 (RAF)
5 March 1937 – 30 October 1950
21 August 1958 – present
CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Branch Royal Air Force
TypeFlying squadron
RoleSignals intelligence
SizeThree aircraft
Part ofNo. 1 Group
Home stationRAF Waddington
Nickname(s)'York's own squadron'
Motto(s)Swift and Sure[1]
AircraftBoeing RC-135W Airseeker
Battle honours
  • Home Defence (1916–1918)*
  • Channel and North Sea (1940–1943)
  • Norway (1940)*
  • France and Low Countries (1940)
  • Ruhr (1940–1945)*
  • Fortress Europe (1940–1944)
  • German Ports (1940–1945)
  • Invasion Ports (1940)
  • Biscay Ports (1940–1944)
  • Berlin 1940–1944
  • Baltic
    1940–1944*
  • Biscay 1942
  • Italy
    (1943)*
  • France and Germany (1944–1945)*
  • Normandy
    (1944)
  • Walcheren
  • Rhine
  • South Atlantic 1982
  • Gulf (1991)
  • Kosovo
  • Iraq
    (2003–2011)
  • Libya (2011)
* Honours marked with an asterisk may be emblazoned on the Squadron Standard
Insignia
Squadron badge heraldryA goose volant, chosen as a play on the word 'Anson', the aircraft which the squadron was flying when the badge was being designed, as 'Anser' is the Latin word for Goose, and it was felt that a heavy wild fowl was appropriate for a bomber squadron. Approved by King George VI in December 1937.
Squadron codesUT (Aug 1939 – Sep 1939)
MH (Sep 1939 – May 1945)
LK (? – Jan 1944)
('C' Flt which became 578 Sqn)
C6 (Jan 1944 – May 1945)
('C' Flt)
TB (May 1945 – Dec 1949)
MH (Dec 1949 – Oct 1950)

Number 51 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. Since 2014 it has operated the Boeing RC-135W Airseeker R.1, more commonly referred to as the Rivet Joint, from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire.

It had previously flown the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod R.1 from 1974 until 2011.[2] Following the Nimrod's retirement, crews from No. 51 Squadron trained alongside the United States Air Force on the RC-135W Rivet Joint, which was being acquired by the RAF under the Airseeker project.[3][4][5]

History

World War I

51 Squadron

Avro 504K to give night flying training to new pilots. The squadron disbanded in 1919.[6]

Interwar years

The squadron was reborn when 'B' Flight of 58 Squadron was renumbered as 51 Squadron at Driffield in March 1937, flying Virginias and Ansons. At this time the squadron badge was being chosen and a goose was chosen as a play on words: the squadron was flying the Anson and the Latin for goose is Anser. It was also appropriate for a bomber unit to have a heavy wild fowl to represent it.[7]

World War II

Loading bombs into a 51 Squadron Halifax at RAF Snaith
51 Squadron Halifax crew hand in their parachutes after a raid on the Ruhr

51 Squadron dropped

Second World War, using the Whitley aircraft.[8]

In February 1942, led by the legendary Percy Pickard, 51 Squadron carried 119 paratroops and an RAF flight sergeant skilled in electronics to Bruneval, France, in converted Whitleys. The men then carried out a very successful raid on a German radar installation, removing parts of a new type known as a Würzburg, which they took back to Britain.[9]

A brief period as part of

Coastal Command patrolling against the U-boats in the Bay of Biscay preceded the re-equipment with the Halifax in 1942. 51 spent the rest of the war in Europe flying as part of No. 4 Group RAF, RAF Bomber Command's strategic bombing offensive against the Nazis, operating from RAF Snaith in East Yorkshire.[10]

Postwar

The squadron became part of

Berlin Airlift
.

The squadron again reformed in the 'Special Duties' role when

Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod in 1974.[13]

First British RC-135W (ZZ664) arrives at Waddington in November 2013

One of the three Nimrods on strength was retired at the end of November 2009

ISIL in Iraq and Syria.[17]

Aircraft operated

Aircraft operated have included:

See also

References

Notes

  1. ISBN 0-7100-9339-X
    .
  2. ^ a b "Nimrod R1 makes final flight" Archived 25 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Defence Management Journal, 28 June 2011. Retrieved: 28 June 2011.
  3. ^ "Ministry of Defence – The Major Projects Report 2012 Appendix 3" (PDF). National Audit Office. 8 January 2013. p. 32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2013.
  4. ^ "New RAF Intelligence Aircraft Arrives in UK Seven Months Early". www.defense-aerospace.com.
  5. ^ Perry, Dominic (12 November 2013). "PICTURES: First RAF Rivet Joint aircraft arrives in UK". Flight Global. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  6. ^ "51 Squadron's War". Britain at War. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  7. ^ Moyes 1976, p. 78.
  8. ^ "No. 51 Squadron RAF". Royal Air Force Museum. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  9. ^ Price, Alfred. Instruments of Darkness: The History of Electronic Warfare, 1939–1945.Naval Institute Press; Revised, Expanded ed. (Aug. 1 2017)
  10. ^ "No. 51 Squadron (RAF): Second World War". History of War. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  11. ^ Lake 2001, p. 130–131.
  12. ISBN 978-0007312665
    .
  13. ^ "UK squadron prepares for Nimrod R1 retirement". Flight Global. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  14. ^ Peruzzi, Luca (20 May 2010). "RAF prepares for final Afghan deployment with Nimrod R1". Flight International. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  15. ^ Hoyle, Craig (14 January 2011). "RAF personnel start Rivet Joint training". Flight International. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  16. ^ Perry, Dominic (12 November 2013). "PICTURES: First RAF Rivet Joint aircraft arrives in UK". Flight International. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  17. ^ Hoyle, Craig (21 July 2015). "RAF to take early delivery of UK's second Rivet Joint". Flight International. Retrieved 29 June 2019.

Bibliography

External links

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