Number 216 Squadron is a squadron 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) a ...

based at

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England. The station is the RAF's Intelligence Surveillance Target ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, since reforming on 1 April 2020 and is tasked with testing future drone swarm technology. It had previously operated Lockheed TriStar K1, KC1 and C2s from

RAF Brize Norton Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the village of Brize Norton, and the towns of Carterton and Witney. The station ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, between November 1984 and March 2014.

History

First World War

No. 216 Squadron's beginnings can be traced back to August 1917 when No. 7 Squadron of the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

(RNAS) sent a detachment of four

Handley Page O/100 The Handley Page Type O was a biplane bomber used by Britain during the First World War. When built, the Type O was the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and one of the largest in the world. There were two main variants, the Handle ...

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population o ...

in order to fly anti-submarine missions. Moving to Manston in October, the unit was re-designated as 'A' Squadron. At the end of October, 'A' Squadron was deployed to

Ochey Ochey () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department The following is a list of the 591 communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department of France. The co ...

, France, joining No. 41 Wing as a strategic night bomber squadron. On 8 January 1918, 'A' Squadron was re-designated as No. 16 Squadron (RNAS). In March, the squadron began to convert to the

Handley Page O/400 The Handley Page Type O was a biplane bomber used by Britain during the First World War. When built, the Type O was the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and one of the largest in the world. There were two main variants, the Handle ...

. On the night of 24/25 March, an aircraft from the squadron carried out an 8 and a half hour attack on Cologne. On 1 April, while operating out of Villeseneux (south east of Reims), No. 16 Squadron (RNAS) became No. 216 Squadron of the Royal Air Force.

Interwar

Between the two World Wars the squadron used

Vickers Vimy The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft developed and manufactured by Vickers Limited. Developed during the latter stages of the First World War to equip the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the Vimy was designed by Reginald Kirshaw "Rex" ...

Vickers Victoria The Vickers Type 56 Victoria was a British biplane freighter and troop transport aircraft used by the Royal Air Force. The Victoria flew for the first time in 1922 and was selected for production over the Armstrong Whitworth Awana. Design an ...

and Vickers Type 264 Valentia aircraft on transport duties around 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 (Europea ...

. No. 216 Squadron had their squadron badge approved by

King Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

in May 1936.

Second World War

During 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 opposing ...

, with a few exceptions, such as the attacks from 17 to 21 June 1940 by a single aircraft of No. 216 Squadron on the airfields of

El Adem Gamal Abdel Nasser Airbase () is a Libyan Air Force ( ar, القوات الجوية الليبية, translit=al-Quwwāt al-Ǧawwiyya al-Lībiyya, Berber: Adwas Alibyan Ujnna) base, located about 16 km south of Tobruk. It is believed to on ...

and

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near t ...

, the unit was principally a transport squadron, operating the Vickers Type 264 Valentia,

Bristol Bombay The Bristol Bombay was a British troop transport aircraft adaptable for use as a medium bomber flown by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. Design and development The Bristol Bombay was built to Air Ministry Specification ...

, de Havilland DH86,

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and prim ...

and

Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

. It spent a lengthy time deployed to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

from November 1942 to July 1945.

Post-War

In late 1949, the Dakotas were replaced by Vickers Valettas transport aircraft; in 1955 the squadron moved to

RAF Lyneham Royal Air Force Lyneham otherwise known as RAF Lyneham was a Royal Air Force station located northeast of Chippenham, Wiltshire, and southwest of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The station was the home of all the Lockheed C-130 Hercules tran ...

from RAF Fayid in Egypt to operate the

De Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four d ...

C.2 jet airliner until 27 June 1975, when No. 216 Squadron disbanded after 58 years of service. The squadron reformed at

RAF Honington Royal Air Force Honington or more simply RAF Honington is a Royal Air Force station located south of Thetford near Ixworth in Suffolk, England. Although used as a bomber station during the Second World War, RAF Honington is now the RAF Regim ...

on 1 July 1979 as a maritime strike squadron assigned to

Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic The Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) was one of two supreme commanders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the other being the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). The SACLANT led Allied Command Atlantic was based at ...

(SACLANT) with twelve

Blackburn Buccaneer The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccane ...

S.2 aircraft transferred from the Fleet Air Arm's 809 Naval Air Squadron. These aircraft had been embarked on until flying off for the last time in November 1978 for a delivery flight from the carrier in the Mediterranean to

RAF St Athan Ministry of Defence St Athan or MOD St Athan ( Welsh: Maes awyr Sain Tathan), formerly known as RAF St Athan, is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. It was the designated site fo ...

. Designated Buccaneer S2A by the RAF, they were equipped with twelve WE.177A nuclear bombs, free-falling conventional HE bombs and Martel missiles for non-nuclear strike. However, on 7 February 1980, a No. XV Squadron Buccaneer crashed after a wing failed in flight during the Red Flag exercise in the USA. The resulting grounding and inspections saw the size of the Buccaneer fleet reduced, with the result that No. 216 Squadron had its assets merged with No. 12 (Bomber) Squadron barely a year after its reformation, however the squadron was not officially disbanded.

Lockheed TriStar (1984–2014)

Following the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial d ...

, the RAF found itself lacking in the strategic transport capabilities required to sustain the expanded military presence there; this shortfall was filled initially by chartered

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ca ...

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am w ...

s and Britannia Airways

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

s. To address this, in December 1982 the RAF purchased six former British Airways Lockheed TriStar 500s. The first TriStar (ZD949) was leased back to British Airways on 29 March 1983 until November, eventually undergoing conversion at

Cambridge Airport Cambridge City Airport , previously Marshall Airport Cambridge UK, is a regional airport in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the eastern outskirts of Cambridge, south of Newmarket Road and west of the village of Teversham, from the ...

Marshall Aerospace Marshall Group, formerly Marshall of Cambridge and Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group, is a British company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Subsidiaries include Marshall Aerospace, an aircraft maintenance, modification, and desig ...

in 1986. In 1984, the RAF purchased a further three TriStar 500s from

Pan-Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

. No. 216 Squadron was reactivated on 1 November 1984 at

to operate the

Lockheed TriStar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, also known as the L-1011 (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") and TriStar, is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter com ...

. The aircraft were operated initially in the air-transport role but the fleet's role was eventually expanded to Air-to-Air Refuelling. On 24 March 1986, TriStar KC.1 ''ZD953'' became the first aircraft to be handed over to the squadron. No. 216 Squadron deployed the TriStar fleet in support of many high-profile missions including the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

(for which the aircraft received a desert paint scheme),

Operation Allied Force The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...

(Kosovo), Operation Veritas and

Operation Herrick Operation Herrick was the codename under which all British operations in the War in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014. It consisted of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assi ...

(Afghanistan),

Operation Telic Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on ...

(Iraq 2003) and

Operation Ellamy Operation Ellamy was the codename for the United Kingdom participation in the 2011 military intervention in Libya. The operation was part of an international coalition aimed at enforcing a Libyan no-fly zone in accordance with the United Natio ...

(Libya). The squadron was disbanded on 20 March 2014 at RAF Brize Norton, with the last Tristar sortie being flown on 24 March. On 11 October 2017, it was announced that Her Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

had approved the award of 'Iraq 2003-2011' and 'Libya 2011' Battle Honours to No. 216 Squadron (without the right to emblazon).

Drone Swarm (2020–present)

On 17 July 2019, at the Air & Space Power Conference, the RAF announced that No. 216 Squadron would reform to become an experimental unit that will test future drone swarm technology. The squadron is expected to reform on 1 April 2020, initially based at

. No. 216 Squadron formally stood up on 1 April 2020.

Aircraft operated

Aircraft operated include: * Handley Page Type O/100 (Oct 1917–1918) * Handley Page Type O/400 (Mar 1918–Oct 1921) * Airco DH.10 Amiens (Aug 1920–Oct 1922) *

(June 1922–Oct 1926) * Vickers Victora Mk.II (Dec 1925–Oct 1926) * Vickers Victoria Mk.III (July 1926–Apr 1935) * Vickers Victoria Mk.V (Feb 1929–Aug 1934) * Vickers Victoria Mk.IV (Apr 1929–Apr 1931) * Vickers Victoria Mk.VI (Apr 1933–Nov 1935) *

Vickers Valentia The Vickers Valentia was a 1920s British flying boat designed during the First World War. History Three Valentia prototypes were built by the Vickers Company at their Barrow works ( Walney Island perhaps), having been ordered in May 1918 as ...

(Feb 1935–Sep 1941) * Bristol Bombay Mk.I (Oct 1939–May 1943) * de Havilland DH86B (Nov 1941–Apr 1942) * Lockheed Hudson Mk.VI (July 1942–Apr 1943) *

(Apr 1943–Dec 1949) * Vickers Valetta C.1 (Nov 1949–Nov 1955) * de Havilland Comet C.2 (June 1956–May 1967) * de Havilland Comet C.4 (Feb 1962–June 1975) * Blackburn Buccaneer S.2B (July 1979–Aug 1980) * Hawker Hunter T.7 (1979–1980) * Lockheed TriStar C.1 (Nov 1984–Sep 1988) * Lockheed TriStar C.2 (Feb 1985–Mar 2014) * Lockheed TriStar C.2A (Mar 1985–Aug 2013) * Lockheed TriStar K.1 (Mar 1986–Mar 2014) * Lockheed TriStar KC.1 (Feb 1989–Mar 2014)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * *E.D Harding 1923. A history of Number 16 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service - Revised 2006 Peter Chapman

External links

Squadron History
on RAF Official Website (Archived)
216 Squadron Association
{{RAF squadrons 216 Squadron Military units and formations in Mandatory Palestine in World War II R