No. 109 Squadron RAF was an aircraft squadron of the
Royal Air Force.
History
The squadron first formed on 1 November 1917 as 109 Squadron Royal Flying Corps at South Carlton and began training on the
de Havilland DH.9
The Airco DH.9 (from de Havilland 9) – also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 – was a British single-engined biplane bomber developed and deployed during the First World War.
The DH.9 was a development of Airco's earlier successfu ...
bomber but was disbanded on 19 August 1918 without becoming operational.
Reformed on 10 December 1940 from the Wireless Intelligence Development Unit at
RAF Boscombe Down operating a variety of aircraft. The main task was to identify German radio beams and to develop methods to jam them, its secondary role was to develop wireless and radar navigation aids for Bomber Command.
[Orbis (1985), p.2876] In 1942 the squadron moved to
RAF Stradishall with the twin-engined
de Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...
light bomber fitted with
Oboe and then, soon, to
RAF Wyton where it operated as part of the Pathfinder Force. The use of Oboe was worked out using Mosquitos of 109 Squadron. After four months work the device was put into service to mark the bomb aim point against Düsseldorf on 1 January 1943.
The use of Oboe equipped Mosquitos to mark targets was crucial to the success of the RAF's campaign against the Ruhr. The squadron continued performing marking duties till the end of the war, including the last raid on Berlin on 21 April 1945. As the war finished it used its accurate navigation equipment to help drop supplies in the Netherlands. The squadron was disbanded on 30 September 1945 at
RAF Little Staughton it had carried out 5,421 operational sorties with the Mosquito with the loss of 18 aircraft.
On 1 October 1945 it was reformed at
RAF Woodhall Spa still as a Mosquito unit and provided a light bomber force for Bomber Commander in the post-war years. It eventually re-equipped with
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
s and saw action in the
Suez campaign. With the increase of the
V bomber
The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Main Force. The three models of strategic ...
force the squadron was no longer needed and was finally disbanded on 1 February 1957 at
RAF Binbrook.
Aircraft operated
References
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109 109 may refer to:
* 109 (number), the integer following 108 and preceding 110
* AD 109, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century AD
* 109 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar
* 109 (department store), a department store in Shib ...
109 109 may refer to:
* 109 (number), the integer following 108 and preceding 110
* AD 109, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century AD
* 109 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar
* 109 (department store), a department store in Shib ...
Telecommunications in World War II
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