No. 66 Squadron RAF
| No. 66 Squadron RAF | |
|---|---|
| Active | 30 June 1916 - 25 October 1919 20 July 1936 - 30 April 1945 1 September 1946 - 30 September 1960 15 September 1961 – 20 March 1969 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 Royal Air Force
|
| Motto(s) |
Latin: Cavete praemonui ("Beware, I have warned") |
| post 1950 aircraft insignia |  |
| Battle honours | Western Front, 1917*; Arras 1917; Messines, 1917; Ypres, 1917; Italian Front & Adriatic, 1917-18*; Channel & North Sea, 1939-44*; Dunkerque; France & Low Countries, 1940*; Battle of Britain 1940*; Home Defence, 1940-44; Fortress Europe 1940-44*; Dieppe; Normandy, 1944*; France & Germany, 1944-45*; Walcheren. The honours marked with an asterix* are those emblazoned on the Squadron Standard. |
| Insignia | |
| Squadron Badge | A rattlesnake The rattlesnake typifies aggressive spirit and striking power |
| Squadron Codes |
RB (Sep 1938 - Sep 1939) LZ (Sep 1939 - 1945 and 1949 - 1951) HI (1946 - 1949) |
No. 66 Squadron was a Royal Flying Corps and eventually Royal Air Force aircraft squadron.
It was first formed at Filton on 30 June 1916 as a training squadron equipped with Royal Aircraft Factory BE2, BE12s and the Avro 504. The squadron received its first Sopwith Pup on 3 February 1917, and deployed to Vert Galand in the Somme, France on 12 March 1917. The Pups were exchanged for Sopwith Camels during October 1917 and the squadron moved to join No. 14 Wing in Italy.
During twelve months of fighting in Italy the squadron destroyed 172 enemy aircraft. On 13 March 1918 Lieutenant Alan Jerrard engaged nineteen enemy aircraft on his own, he managed to destroy three before he was forced to land and taken prisoner, he was awarded the squadron's only Victoria Cross for his efforts.
At the end of the war the squadron stayed on in Italy for a few months, returning to the United Kingdom in March 1919 and was disbanded on 25 October 1919.
The 21 aces who had served with the squadron during the Great War were: William George Barker VC, Alan Jerrard VC, Peter Carpenter, Harry King Goode, Francis S. Symondson, Gerald Alfred Birks, Charles M. Maud, Gordon Apps, Hilliard Brooke Bell, Christopher McEvoy, Harold Ross Eycott-Martin, William Myron MacDonald, Augustus Paget, John Oliver Andrews, Harold Koch Boysen, William Carrall Hilborn, Thomas Hunter, James Lennox, Walbanke Ashby Pritt, Patrick Gordon Taylor and, John (Jack) Wallis Bishop.
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