Number 17 Squadron (sometimes written as No. XVII Squadron), currently No. 17 Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES), is a

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. It was reformed on 12 April 2013 at Edwards Air Force Base,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, as the Operational Evaluation Unit (OEU) for the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning.

History

First World War

No. 17 Squadron formed for the first time on 1 February 1915 at Gosport as part of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). It was first equipped with the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c. After an initial training period, the Squadron embarked for

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

in November and arrived on 11 December. On 24 December, the Squadron made its first reconnaissance flight over the Turkish lines in

Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

, also flying in support of troops engaged with Turkish army units in the Western Desert. Detachments were also to be found in Arabia until July 1916, when the Squadron was sent to

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

as a mixed unit of twelve B.E.2cs for reconnaissance and a scout component of two Airco D.H.2s and three

Bristol Scout The Bristol Scout was a single-seat rotary-engined biplane originally designed as a racing aircraft. Like similar fast, light aircraft of the period it was used by the RNAS and the RFC as a " scout", or fast reconnaissance type. It was one o ...

s. At first it was the only RFC unit in Macedonia but was later joined by others in April 1918, handing over its fighters to a newly formed No. 150 Squadron. For the rest of the war, it was engaged in tactical reconnaissance and artillery spotting on the Bulgarian border.

Interwar years

In December 1918, the Squadron re-equipped with twelve

Airco D.H.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 ...

s and six

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the ...

s, sending 'A Flight' to

Batum Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of t ...

to support the White Russian forces and 'B' and 'C Flights' to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

in January 1919. On 14 November 1919, No. 17 Squadron was disbanded. The Squadron reformed at

RAF Hawkinge Royal Air Force Hawkinge or more simply RAF Hawkinge is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Ashford, north of Folkestone, Kent and west of Dover, Kent, England. The airfield was used by both the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal ...

on 1 April 1924 and was equipped with

Sopwith Snipe The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of th ...

s. From this time No. 17 Squadron formed part of the fighter defence of the UK until the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The Squadron converted to the

Hawker Woodcock The Hawker Woodcock was a British single-seat fighter built by the Hawker Engineering Company as the first fighter to be produced by Hawker Engineering (the successor to Sopwith Aviation). It was used by the RAF as a night fighter in the 1920 ...

in March 1926, one of only two squadrons to operate it - the other being No. 3 Squadron. In June 1927 a Woodcock from No. 17 Squadron was borrowed by the pilot of the

Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlant ...

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

, who flew it from London to Paris shortly after his transatlantic flight. In January 1928, the Squadron converted over to the

Gloster Gamecock The Gloster Gamecock was a biplane fighter designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Gloster. The Gamecock was a development of the earlier Grebe Mk III, an early interwar fighter procured by the Royal Air Force (RAF). Wor ...

, these were only kept until September when they were exchanged for

Armstrong Whitworth Siskin The Armstrong Whitworth Siskin was a biplane single-seat fighter aircraft developed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It was also the first all-metal fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RA ...

No. 17 Squadron then equipped with

Bristol Bulldog The Bristol Bulldog is a British Royal Air Force single-seat biplane fighter designed during the 1920s by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. More than 400 Bulldogs were produced for the RAF and overseas customers, and it was one of the most fam ...

Mk.IIs in October 1929, these would be kept up until August 1936. However, during the

Abyssinian Crisis The Abyssinia Crisis (; ) was an international crisis in 1935 that originated in what was called the Walwal incident during the ongoing conflict between the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Ethiopia (then commonly known as "Abyssinia"). The Lea ...

in 1935, the Squadron lost most of its Bulldogs as reinforcements for other squadrons moving to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

and so had to fly

Hawker Hart The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircra ...

s for a period. No. 17 Squadron were equipped with

Gloster Gauntlet The Gloster Gauntlet was a single-seat biplane fighter designed and produced by the British aeroplane manufacturer Gloster Aircraft in the 1930s. It was the last fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to have an open cockpit, and ...

s in August 1936. It was in recognition of these aircraft that the Squadron got its badge design, which was officially approved by Edward VIII in October 1936. The Squadron received its first monoplane, the Hawker Hurricane Mk.I, in June 1939.

Second World War

No. 17 Squadron flew defensive patrols from numerous bases in Britain, including

RAF Debden Royal Air Force Debden or more simply RAF Debden is a former Royal Air Force station located southeast of Saffron Walden and approximately north of the village of Debden in North Essex, England History The airfield was opened in April 1937 ...

and RAF Martlesham Heath, until the German attack on France in May 1940. Once the

Phony War The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germa ...

was over, fighter sweeps were then flown over the Netherlands, Belgium and French airfields to cover the retreat of allied troops. In June 1940, the Squadron moved to

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

as the remnants of BEF and RAF units in France were evacuated, retiring to the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

for two days before returning to the UK. No. 17 Squadron flew over southern England throughout the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

. The Squadron briefly upgraded to Hurricane Mk.IIas in February 1941 however they shortly reverted to Hurricane Mk.Is in April. No. 17 Squadron moved up to

RAF Castletown Royal Air Force Castletown or more simply RAF Castletown is a former Royal Air Force station that operated during the Second World War. Built near to Castletown in Caithness, Scotland the station opened in 1940 and closed in 1945. Initially bu ...

in northern Scotland on 5 April for rest. In July 1941 the Squadron again upgraded its Hurricanes, this time to Mk.IIbs. On 11 November 1941, the Squadron sailed for the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

where war broke out on 7 December. Diverted to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, it arrived in January 1942, as Japanese troops neared Rangoon. Defensive patrols were flown until the Rangoon airfields were overrun and No. 17 Squadron moved north, eventually being cut off from India while operating from

Lashio Lashio ( ; Shan: ) is the largest town in northern Shan State, Myanmar, about north-east of Mandalay. It is situated on a low mountain spur overlooking the valley of the Yaw River. Loi Leng, the highest mountain of the Shan Hills, is located ...

. The surviving aircraft were flown out and the ground personnel made their way across Burma to the Indian border. By the end of May, the Squadron had re-assembled at

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

and in June received aircraft again for the defence of the area. In August 1942, No. 17 Squadron upgraded to Hurricane Mk.IIcs. Ground attack missions began in February 1943 and continued until August, when the Squadron moved to Ceylon. Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VIIIs began to arrive in March 1944 and were taken back to the Burma front in November to fly escort and ground attack missions. In June 1945, No. 17 Squadron upgraded to Spitfire Mk.XIVes. The Squadron was withdrawn from Burma to prepare for the invasion of Malaya. However, due to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they were simply taken by the carrier to the landing beaches near Penang in early September, soon after the Japanese capitulation.

Post-War

Cold War

In April 1946, No. 17 Squadron arrived in Japan to form part of the

British Commonwealth Occupation Force The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) was the British Commonwealth taskforce consisting of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952. At its peak, ...

. The squadron remained here until it disbanded on 23 February 1948. However it shortly returned to existence on 11 February 1949 at

RAF Chivenor Royal Air Force Chivenor or RAF Chivenor was a Royal Air Force station located on the northern shore of the River Taw estuary, on the north coast of Devon, England. The nearest towns are Barnstaple and Braunton. Originally a civil airfield open ...

when No. 691 Squadron was renumbered as No. 17 Squadron. The Squadron adopted No. 691 Squadron's role of being an anti-aircraft co-operation unit. During this time the Squadron flew a mixture of aircraft including the Spitfire LF.XVIe and target tugs:

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Seco ...

T.II;

Miles Martinet The Miles M.25 Martinet was a target tug aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) that was in service during the Second World War. It was the first British aircraft to be designed specifically for target towing. Work o ...

TT.I;

North American Harvard The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

TT.IIb; Bristol Beaufighter TT.X. No. 17 Squadron continued this role until it disbanded once again on 13 March 1951. The Squadron reformed at

RAF Wahn Cologne Bonn Airport (german: Flughafen Köln/Bonn 'Konrad Adenauer') is the international airport of Germany's fourth-largest city Cologne, and also serves Bonn, former capital of West Germany. With around 12.4 million passengers passing thro ...

in West Germany on 1 June 1956. This time it operated

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...

PR.7s, thus carrying out the photo reconnaissance role. The Squadron moved to

RAF Wildenrath Royal Air Force Wildenrath, commonly known as RAF Wildenrath, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) military airbase near Wildenrath in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, that operated from 1952 to 1992. Wildenrath was the first of four 'clutch' stations ...

in April 1957 and flew from here before standing down on 31 December 1969. It stood up once more on 1 September 1970 at

RAF Brüggen Royal Air Force Brüggen, more commonly known as RAF Brüggen, in Germany was a major station of the Royal Air Force until 15 June 2001. It was situated next to the village of Elmpt, approximately west of Düsseldorf on the Dutch-German bo ...

, this time flying the new McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.2, in a ground attack role. They were also assigned to

SACEUR The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is ...

from which the Phantoms held a tactical nuclear strike role, carrying American supplied nuclear weapons. In September 1975, the Squadron began to convert over to the SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1. No. 17 Squadron were fully re-equipped with twelve Jaguar GR.1s by 31 January 1976. These continued the nuclear strike role from the Phantoms, being assigned to SACEUR, but this time carrying the British

WE.177 The WE.177, originally styled as WE 177, and sometimes simply as WE177, was a series of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons with which the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) were equipped. It was the primary air-dropped nuclear we ...

nuclear weapon, a role they kept until 1984. Their task was to support land forces in a high-intensity European war using conventional weapons initially, and tactical nuclear weapons if a conflict escalated. Some aircraft were to be held back in reserve from the conventional phase to ensure that sufficient aircraft survived the conventional phase to deliver the squadron's full stock of eight nuclear weapons. Still at RAF Brüggen, No. 17 Squadron began to convert to the

Panavia Tornado The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS ( in ...

GR.1 in January 1985. They reached full strength of twelve aircraft by 1 March when the last Jaguars were disbanded. The Squadron at this time also had eighteen WE.177 nuclear bombs, and although the squadron's role remained unchanged, their Tornado aircraft were each able to carry two WE.177 bombs, with the ratio of weapons to aircraft at full strength increasing to 1.5 : 1.

Operation Granby

Panavia Tornado GR1, UK - Air Force AN1776834

During the First Gulf War in 1991, No. 17 Squadron engineers were deployed to

Muharraq Airfield Muharraq Airfield is a military base located adjacent to Bahrain International Airport. It is run by the United States Navy (USN) and usually ships supplies in and out of the airport with many of them from other countries as well. The USN, the Uni ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, and also had crews sent to

Dhahran Airfield King Abdulaziz Air Base () , also known as Dhahran Air Base and formerly Dhahran International Airport, Dhahran Airport and Dhahran Airfield, is a Royal Saudi Air Force base located in Dhahran in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Located west ...

. At Muharraq, its twelve Tornado GR.1s were split between three flight lines – 'Snoopy AirWays', 'Triffid Airways' and 'Gulf Airways'. Tornado operations, as part of Op GRANBY, began on 17 January 1991 to assert air superiority over Iraq. The Squadron suffered a loss on 24 January when a Tornado GR.1 (ZA403) was rocked by an explosion forcing the pilot (Fg. Off. S. J. Burgess) and navigator (Sqn Ldr R. Ankerson) to eject. Both crew members were captured and were kept as prisoners of war (PoWs) until the end of conflict. An investigation after the war of the wreckage and flight recorder deduced that one of the 1,000lb bombs dropped had detonated prematurely thus causing extensive damage to the Tornado. No. 17 Squadron suffered its second loss on 14 February when a Tornado GR.1 (ZD717) carrying out

laser-guided bomb A laser-guided bomb (LGB) is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser guidance to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. First developed by the United States during the Vietnam War, laser-guided bombs quickly p ...

attacks on an Iraqi airfield was forced down by two Iraqi SAMs which exploded in close proximity to the aircraft. The pilot (Flt. Lt. R. J. Clark) initiated ejection for himself and his navigator (Flt. Lt. S. M. Hicks). On landing Clark was captured by Iraqi forces and was held as a PoW for the rest of the war, it was only after his capture that he learned his navigator Hicks had been killed in the attack.

Tornados to Typhoons

Returning to RAF Brüggen, No. 17 Squadron continued its nuclear strike role up until the retirement of the WE.177, with it finally relinquishing its nuclear delivery capability fully in 1998. With the end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany, the RAF planned to reduce its presence in Germany by half, and by 1996 a final decision was made to withdraw the entire RAF presence from the country. Due to the

Strategic Defence Review The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was a British policy document produced in July 1998 by the Labour Government that had gained power a year previously. Then Secretary of State for Defence, George Robertson, set out the initial defence policy of ...

of 1998, it was decided to withdraw two RAF squadrons, one of which was No. 17 Squadron. The Squadron and its Tornado GR.1s disbanded on 31 March 1999, ending almost 30 years at RAF Brüggen. The Squadron was reformed on 1 September 2002 as No. XVII (Reserve) Squadron at BAE Systems's

Warton Aerodrome Warton Aerodrome is located in Warton village on the Fylde in Lancashire, England. The aerodrome is west of Preston, Lancashire, UK. Today the airfield is a major assembly and testing facility of BAE Systems Military Air & Information. It i ...

. At Warton, a special facility had been constructed to specially operate the new Eurofighter Typhoon T.1s and F.2s. No. 17 (R) Squadron was tasked with being the Operational Evaluation Unit (OEU), or alternatively the Typhoon Operational Evaluation Unit (TOEU), for the type, becoming the first in the RAF to operate it. The Squadron relocated to

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and ho ...

on 1 April 2005 and was officially re-formed at its new base on 19 May 2005. With the Typhoon fully operational, the need for the separate OEU ended and so the Squadron was disbanded on 12 April 2013. Its functions were taken over by the RAF's Test and Evaluation Squadron, No. 41 (R) Squadron.

Modern day

F-35B Lightning

The Squadron stood up at

Edwards AFB Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...

, California, on 12 April 2013 as a joint RAF/

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Test and Evaluation Squadron for the new Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning. In January 2014, it became the first UK, and RAF, squadron to operate the F-35B Lightning, with BK-1 (''ZM135'') being the first British aircraft. In February 2015, the Squadron celebrated its centenary at Edwards AFB. No. 17 (R) Squadron is currently made up of half RAF/RN personnel, as well as training personnel for No. 617 Squadron and No. 207 Squadron; the second and third RAF squadrons to operate the F-35B in 2018 and 2019. Equipped with 3 F-35B aircraft (''ZM135'', ''ZM136'' and ''ZM138''), it continues to be the first UK Lightning squadron and is tasked with full-time operational test and evaluation of the F-35B, required to bring the aircraft and its weapons into UK service. It operates within the Joint Operational Test Team for F-35 at Edwards AFB, flying operational test sorties alongside all variants from the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sig ...

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

and Royal Netherlands Air Force, as part of the UK Partnership within the F-35 program. It's currently embedded with the

461st Flight Test Squadron The 461st Flight Test Squadron is a United States Air Force squadron, assigned to the 412th Operations Group of Air Force Materiel Command, and is stationed at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The Squadron performs flight testing on the Lockh ...

of the United States Air Force. No. 17 (Reserve) Test and Evaluation Squadron lost its (Reserve) suffix on 1 February 2018 when the (Reserve) nameplate was rescinded across the entire RAF, thus becoming No. 17 Test and Evaluation Squadron. No. 17 TES embarked their three F-35Bs upon on 13 October 2019 as part of Westlant 19, becoming the first British jets to land on the carrier.

Aircraft operated

* Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c (Feb 1915–Nov 1915) * Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c (Dec 1915–June 1918) *

(July 1916–Sep 1916) * Airco D.H.2 (July 1916–Sep 1916) *

Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.12 The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.12 was a British single-seat aeroplane of The First World War designed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. It was essentially a single-seat version of the B.E.2. Intended for use as a long-range reconnaissance and bom ...

a (Nov 1916–Sep 1918) *

SPAD S.VII The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) during the First World War. Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and r ...

(July 1917–Apr 1918) * Nieuport 17 (Aug 1917–Dec 1917) * Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a (Dec 1917–Apr 1918) * Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 (Mar 1918–Dec 1918) *

(Dec 1918–Nov 1919) *

(Apr 1924–Mar 1926) *

(Mar 1926–Jan 1928) *

(Jan 1928–Sep 1928) *

Mk.IIIa (Sep 1928–Oct 1929) *

Mk.II (Oct 1929–Aug 1936) *

Mk.IIa (Oct 1929–Aug 1936) *

(Oct 1935–May 1936) *

Mk.II (Aug 1936–June 1939) *

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

Mk.I (June 1939–Feb 1941) *

Mk.IIa (Feb 1941–Apr 1941) *

Mk.I (Apr 1941–Aug 1941) *

Mk.IIb (July 1941–Nov 1941) *

Mk.IIa (Jan 1942–June 1942) *

Mk.IIb (June 1942–Aug 1942) *

Mk.IIc (Aug 1942–June 1944) * Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VIII (Mar 1944–June 1945) * Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIVe (June 1945–Feb 1948) * Supermarine Spitfire LF.XVIe (Feb 1949–Mar 1951) *

T.II (Feb 1949–Mar 1951) *

TT.I (Feb 1949–Jan 1950) *

TT.IIb (Feb 1949–Mar 1951) * Bristol Beaufighter TT.X (June 1949–Mar 1951) *

PR.7 (June 1956–Dec 1969) * McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.2 (Sep 1970–Dec 1975) * SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1 (Sep 1975–Mar 1985) *

GR.1 (Mar 1985–Mar 1999) *

Eurofighter Typhoon The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...

T.1 (Dec 2003–Apr 2013) *

F.2 (Dec 2003–Apr 2013) * Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning (Apr 2013–)

References

Sources

* Jefford, C.G. ''RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1988 (second edition 2001). .

External links