No. 40 Squadron RAF

No. 40 Squadron RAF
Active	26th February 1916 - 4 July 1919 1 April 1931 – 1 April 1947, 1 December 1947 – 15 March 1950, 28 December 1953 - 1 February 1957
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Motto(s)	Latin: Hostem acolo expellere ("To drive the enemy from the sky")
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	A broom. The broom was chosen to immortalise the frequent exhortation of Major 'Mick' Mannock, the famous World War I pilot, who served with the squadron, to "sweep the Huns from the air!"
Squadron Codes	OX Oct 1938 - Sep 1939 BL Sep 1939 - Apr 1947 LE Jun 1949 - Mar 1950

No. 40 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed in 1916 at Gosport as No. 40 Squadron Royal Flying Corps and was disbanded for the last time in 1957. The squadron also included many non-British members, including volunteers from the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force.

Edward Mannock gained 16 of his 61 victories while with 40 Squadron, 15 of which he shot down while flying a Nieuport Scout. Highest scoring ace of the unit in World War I was Irish-born pilot George McElroy, having scored 30 of his total 47 aerial victories with the unit while flying an S.E.5a single seater scout. Others among the two dozen aces who served were Roderic Dallas, Albert Earl Godfrey, Arthur Keen, Reed G. Landis, Ian Napier, William Leeming Harrison, Gwilym Hugh Lewis, Indra Lal Roy, John Henry Tudhope, Edwin Benbow, Herbert Ellis, William Bond, Gerard Crole, Robert Hall, John Wallwork. and Arthurs Thomas Drinkwater & William MacLanachan.