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词条 No. 81 Squadron RAF
释义

  1. History

     First World War  Second World War  Postwar reconnaissance operations 

  2. Squadron Insignia

  3. Footnotes

  4. References

  5. External links

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}{{EngvarB|date=June 2018}}{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name=No. 81 Squadron RAF
|image=
|caption=
|dates= 7 January 1917 – 4 July 1918
25 November 1918 – 1 February 1920
1 December 1939 – 15 June 1940
29 July 1941 – 20 June 1945
20 June 1945 – 30 June 1946
1 September 1946 – 16 January 1970
|country={{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom
|allegiance=
|branch=Royal Flying Corps (1917–1918)
Royal Air Force (1918, 1939–1970)
|type=
|role=
|size=
|command_structure=
|garrison=
|garrison_label=
|nickname=
|patron=
|motto={{lang-la|Non Solum Nobis}}
("Not for us alone"){{sfn|Pine|1983|p=156}}
| identification_symbol=Badge: An erect dagger in front of a mullet.
|colors=
|colors_label=
|march=
|mascot=
|equipment=
|equipment_label=
|battles=
|anniversaries=
|decorations=
|battle_honours=France & Low Countries, 1939-40

Russia, 1941

Fortress Europe, 1942

Home Defence, 1942

Channel & North Sea, 1942

Dieppe

North Africa, 1942–43

Mediterranean, 1943

Sicily, 1943

Salerno

Italy, 1943

Burma 1944

Arakan, 1944

North Burma, 1944

Manipur, 1944


}}

No 81 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It flew Fighter aircraft during the Second World War, and reconnaissance aircraft in the Far East after the war and was disbanded in 1970.

History

First World War

No. 81 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was formed on 7 January 1917 at Gosport as a training unit, but unlike many other Training squadrons during the First World War, it was not mobilised for active service and was disbanded on 4 July 1918.[1]

The squadron reformed 25 November 1918 with all Canadian personnel and was officially known as No. 1 Squadron, Canadian Air Force until disbanding again on 1 February 1920.

Second World War

On 1 December 1939 the Communications Squadron at Mountjoie, France, operating de Havilland Tiger Moths, was redesignated No. 81. It was disbanded on 15 June 1940, when the advancing German forces forced its withdrawal to the United Kingdom.[1]

Following the German Invasion of the Soviet Union, it was decided to send a wing of Hawker Hurricane fighters to assist the Soviet war effort,and No. 81 Squadron reformed at RAF Leconfield on 29 July 1941 as part of No. 151 Wing RAF. In September it flew its Hurricanes off the carrier {{HMS|Argus|I49|6}}, deploying to an airfield near Murmansk. It flew both defensive sorties and escort missions for Soviet bombers, while carrying out its principal role of training Soviet pilots on the Hurricane. After a few weeks of operations the Hurricanes were handed over to the Soviets and the Squadron left to return to the UK at the end of November.[1]{{sfn|Rawlings|1961|p=322}}

When it arrived back at the UK, it was re-equipped with Supermarine Spitfires at RAF Turnhouse, Edinburgh, being declared operational on 1 February 1942. It moved to RAF Hornchurch near London in May, flying its first operation, escorting Hurricanes bombing Bruges on 1 June.{{sfn|Rawlings|1961|p=322}}

At the end of October the Squadron moved to Gibraltar and on 8 November, 19 Spitfires moved to the newly captured airfield at Maison Blanche, Algiers. Following the German surrender in North Africa, it moved to Malta in preparation for the Invasion of Sicily. It then moved to Italy in September but was withdrawn to Egypt in November to prepare for deployment to the Far East.[1]{{sfn|Rawlings|1961|pp=322–323}} During operations in the Mediterranean, they found their most frequent opponents were Jagdgeschwader 53 who had an ace of spades motif on their aircraft. As the squadron commander considered that they had 'bested' their enemy, they took the motif and started applying it to their aircraft.{{sfn|Smith|1955|p=676}}

It arrived at Alipore, India in December 1943, equipped with more modern Spitfire VIII, starting operations in January, flying fighter and ground attack missions in support of the Second Battle of Arakan and the Battle of Imphal as part of the RAF Third Tactical Air Force. It was withdrawn to Ceylon in August and disbanded on 20 June 1945.[1]{{sfn|Rawlings|1961|p=323}} On the same day 123 Squadron was renumbered 81 Squadron but its Thunderbolts did not become operational before the war ended. In October, the squadron was sent to Java during the Indonesian War of Independence, flying tactical reconnaissance duties and covering Allied road convoys, while attacking nationalist held airfields and ammunition dumps. On 30 June 1946, the squadron was again disbanded.{{sfn|Rawlings|1961|p=323}}[2]

{{clear left}}

Postwar reconnaissance operations

On 1 September 1946, No. 684 Squadron, the Far east photo-reconnaissance squadron flying de Havilland Mosquito PR.34s and Spitfire PR.19s, was renumbered as No. 81. It added fighter-reconnaissance Spitfires in August 1947, when it became involved in the Malayan Emergency. Conversion to Meteor PR.10s began in September 1953, with the Squadron flying the RAF's last operational Spitfire mission on 1 April 1954 and the last operational RAF Mosquito mission on 15 December 1955.[1]{{sfn|Rawlings|1961|p=343}} It received a few Percival Pembrokes for survey operations in 1956 and began converting to the English Electric Canberra in 1958,[1] flying its last Meteor mission on 7 July 1961, retaining the Canberra until the Squadron was disbanded as part of Britain's withdrawal from bases East of Suez on 16 January 1970.[1]{{sfn|Rawlings|1961|p=322}}

The Squadron was based at RAF Seletar and RAF Tengah in Singapore from 1947 to 1970 with a small detachment at RAF Kai Tak in Hong Kong from 1947 to 1954.

Squadron Insignia

The squadron insignia consists of sword on a red star. According to the memoirs of Alan McGregor Peart DFC, who served with the squadron in World War 2, the squadron had no formal insignia until 1943, when the members of the squadron decided to devise one. The red star was used as a symbol of the squadron's previous deployment to the Soviet Union, and the borrowed the rampant sword of the First Army in North Africa to represent the squadron's deployment in that theatre.{{sfn|McGregor Peart|2008|pp=102–103}} The squadron's motto, Non Solum Nobis, is Latin for "not for ourselves alone".

Footnotes

1. ^"81 Squadron". Royal Air Force. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
2. ^"No 81 - 85 Squadron Histories {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113213227/http://www.rafweb.org/Sqn081-85.htm |date=13 January 2010}}". Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226223020/http://www.rafweb.org/Index.htm |date=26 December 2007 }}. Retrieved 30 December 2009.

References

{{refbegin}}
  • {{cite book |ref={{harvid|McGregor Peart|2008}}

|last=McGregor Peart |first=Alan |title=From North Africa to the Arakan: The Engrossing Memoir of a WWII Spitfire Ace |year=2008 |publisher=Grub Street |location=London |isbn=978-1-906502-03-4}}
  • {{cite book |ref={{harvid|Pine|1983}}

|last=Pine |first=L. G. |title=A Dictionary of Mottoes |year=1983 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |location=London |isbn=978-0-7100-9339-4}}
  • {{cite magazine |ref={{harvid|Rawlings|1961}}

|last=Rawlings |first=J. D. R. |title=Squadron Histories: No.81 |journal=Air Pictorial |date=October 1961 |publisher=HPC |location=East Sussex |oclc=29897622}}
  • {{cite magazine |ref={{harvid|Smith|1955}}

|title=100 Squadron |magazine=Flight and the Aircraft Engineer |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Maurice A. |publisher=Royal Aero Club (Great Britain) |location=London |volume=75 |issue=2,616 |date=28 October 1955 |oclc=829719558}}{{refend}}

External links

{{Commons category|No. 81 Squadron RAF}}
  • 81 Squadron RAF
  • Air of Authority - No 81-85 Squadron Histories
{{RAF squadrons}}{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 81 Squadron Raf}}

17 : Royal Flying Corps squadrons|Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons|Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force in World War II|1917 establishments in the United Kingdom|Military units and formations of Ceylon in World War II|Military units and formations established in 1917|Military units and formations disestablished in 1918|Military units and formations established in 1918|Military units and formations disestablished in 1920|Military units and formations established in 1939|Military units and formations disestablished in 1940|Military units and formations established in 1941|Military units and formations disestablished in 1945|Military units and formations established in 1945|Military units and formations disestablished in 1946|Military units and formations established in 1946|Military units and formations disestablished in 1970

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