No. 56 Squadron RAF
| No. 56 Squadron RAF | |
|---|---|
| Active | 8 June 1916 – 22 January 1920 1 February 1920 – 23 September 1922 1 November 1922 – 1975 22 March 1976 – date |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 Royal Air Force
|
| Role | Operational Evaluation unit |
| Base | RAF Waddington |
| Nickname(s) | Punjab 'Firebirds' |
| Motto(s) |
Latin: Quid si coelum ruat ("What if heaven falls?") |
| Battle honours | Western Front 1917-1918*; Arras; Ypres 1917*; Cambrai 1917; Somme 1918*; Amiens; Hindenburg Line; France & Low Countries 1940; Dunkirk*: Battle of Britain, 1940*; Fortress Europe, 1942–1944; Dieppe; France & Germany, 1944–1945*; Normandy, 1944*; Home Defence, 1942–1945; Arnhem*. |
| Insignia | |
| Squadron Badge Crest | A phoenix- approved by King Edward VIII in July 1936. The phoenix was chosen to underline the Squadron's ability to reappear intact regardless of the odds. |
| Post 1950 Squadron Roundel |  |
| Squadron Codes |
LR (Sep 1939) US (Sep 1939 – Apr 1946 and 1947 – Dec 1950) ON (Apr 1946 – 1947) (Codes taken over from No 124 Sqn) B (Carried on Phantoms) A (Carried on Tornados) |
Number 56 Squadron is one of the oldest and most successful squadrons of the Royal Air Force, with battle honours from many of the significant air campaigns of both World War I and World War II. As 56 (Reserve) Squadron it is now an Air Command and Control Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Operational Evaluation Unit (AIR C2ISR OEU).
The squadron was formed on 8 June 1916 and was posted to France in April 1917 as part of the Royal Flying Corps. The squadron was equipped with the then brand new S.E.5 fighter. Its arrival at the front with the latest fighter, combined with the unusually high proportion of experienced pilots in its ranks, led to rumours among its German opponents the squadron was specifically the 'Anti-Richthofen Squadron', dedicated to the removal of the Red Baron. Although there was no truth in these rumours, the squadron did shoot down and kill Richthofen's nearest 1917 rival Leutnant Werner Voss in an epic dogfight.
By the end of the war 56 Squadron had scored 402 victories (as 'destroyed', 'out of control' or 'driven down'), and many famous fighter aces served with the unit, such as James McCudden, Reginald Hoidge, Gerald Constable Maxwell, Arthur Rhys Davids, Geoffrey Hilton Bowman, Richard Maybery, Leonard Monteagle Barlow, Henry Burden, Cyril Crowe, Maurice Mealing, Albert Ball, William Roy Irwin, Edric Broadberry, Kenneth William Junor, Cecil Lewis, Keith Muspratt, Harold Walkerdine, William Spurrett Fielding-Johnson, William Otway Boger, Charles Jeffs, Harold Molyneux, and Duncan Grinnell-Milne, the latter of whom became the unit's last Commanding Officer before the squadron was disbanded. During the course of the war, forty of the squadron's pilots were killed in action, twenty wounded and thirty-one taken prisoner.
...
Wikipedia