Tag Archives: B&W

50 Years in the Rearview: Harrier deployment

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Still impressive and hard to believe it is a half-century ago.

A No. 1 (F) Squadron, RAF, Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1A, deployed to an ersatz field position at Ladyville in the Crown Colony of Belize, formerly British Honduras, in November 1975. The deployment was one of many that stretched through 1993 to dissuade neighboring Guatemala from moving in.

This real-world deployment was only six years after No. 1 became the world’s first operator of a V/STOL combat aircraft. (RAF photo).

Formed as No. 1 Balloon Company in 1878 and Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, No. 1 Squadron became a heavier-than-air outfit in May 1912 with the establishment of the Royal Flying Corps, the only veteran unit in the RFC.

Minting at least 31 flying aces in the Great War, flying no less than 10 types in the process, No. 1 started WWII in Hurricane Mk. 1s and finished it in Spitfire Mk.IXs while picking up another dozen aces. Graduating to jets with the Gloster Meteor in 1946 (and training Robin Olds while on an exchange tour), No. 1 became the first V/STOL fighter unit in the world in 1969 when they fielded the Harrier.

While they never saw combat in Belize, having deployed there with their innovative “jump jets” numerous times, 10 Harrier GR.3s of the squadron did make it to the Falklands, and flew 126 sorties, including the first RAF LGB combat mission, the unit’s first combat since the Suez Crisis in 1956.

Three camouflaged and aardvark-nosed Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3s of No. 1 Squadron RAF are positioned in the foreground alongside seven gray-blue Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm British Aerospace Sea Harrier FRS.1s and a Sea King HAS.5 of 820 Naval Air Squadron on the flight deck of the light carrier HMS Hermes (R 12). This scene took place on the day No. 1 Squadron joined the ship in the South Atlantic on 19 May 1982. The first Harrier GR3 is armed with a 1,000lb laser-guided bomb (GBU-16 Paveway II) on its outer pylons. At the center of the deck is Sea Harrier FRS.1 (XZ499) of 800 Naval Air Squadron, the aircraft in which LCDR Smith downed an Argentine Skyhawk. RAF MOD 45163716

Switching post-Falklands to Harrier IIs (GR5, GR7, and GR9s), they only hung them up in 2011 when the type was retired in RAF service, logging 42 years as a Harrier unit, a record since surpassed by a few USMC squadrons.

Since then, they have flown Typhoon FGR4s, first out of RAF Leuchars and later RAF Lossiemouth.

Appropriately, the squadron’s motto is In omnibus princeps (Latin for ‘First in all things’).

Faireys on the Nile, 90 Years Ago Today

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Pictured are three Fairey IIIF floatplanes of No. 47 Squadron on the Blue Nile at Khartoum before departing for a series of exploratory flights over Southern Sudan on 8 July 1930. The aircraft pictured are J9796, J9809, and J9802.

RAF MOD Image 45163722

As noted by RAF, who released the image as part of their 100 years of the RAF celebration in 2018:

The Fairey Aviation Company Fairey III was a family of British reconnaissance biplanes that enjoyed a very long production and service history in both landplane and seaplane variants. The RAF used the IIIF to equip general-purpose squadrons in Egypt, Sudan, Aden, and Jordan, where its ability to operate from both wheels and floats proved useful, while the contemporary Westland Wapiti carried out similar roles in Iraq and India. As such IIIFs were used for colonial policing as well as taking part in further long-distance flights.

The RAF also used the IIIF to finally replace the Airco DH.9A in the home-based Day-Bomber role, and, in the absence of sufficient long-range flying boats for maritime patrol duties by 202 Squadron from Hal Far Malta.

The IIIF remained in front line service well into the 1930s, with the last front-line RAF squadron, 202 Squadron, re-equipping with Supermarine Scapas in August 1935, and the final front line Fleet Air Arm squadron, 822 Squadron retained the IIIF until 1936.

Founded in 1916 to protect Hull and East Yorkshire against attack by German Zeppelins, No. 47 Squadron of the Royal Air Force today operates the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transports from RAF Brize Norton.

Not very many 104-year-old squadrons around these days.

Appropriately for the image above, their motto is Nili nomen roboris omen (The name of the Nile is an omen of our strength)