("Nothing can stand against us") , dates=1 August 1917 (RFC) – 15 July 1919
22 March 1937 – 30 December 1945
15 November 1951 – 1 January 1961
2 January 1967 – 31 August 1992 , country=

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, allegiance= , branch= Ensign of the Royal Air Force

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 ...

, identification_symbol=A

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

salient.
The salamander is always ready to face any danger. , identification_symbol_label=Squadron Badge , identification_symbol_2= RAF 79 Sqn

, identification_symbol_2_label=Squadron Roundel , identification_symbol_3=AL (November 1938 – September 1939)
NV (September 1939 – March 1942, 1943 – December 1945)
T (November 1951 – 1956) , identification_symbol_3_label= Squadron Codes , notable_commanders = CC McMullen (1939–40) No. 79 Squadron was a squadron of the

History

World War I

It was first formed at

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite ...

on 1 August 1917 as a squadron of the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

. It was equipped with

Sopwith Dolphin The Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin was a British fighter aircraft manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It was used by the Royal Flying Corps and its successor, the Royal Air Force, during the First World War. The Dolphin entered service on t ...

fighter aircraft in December that year, moving to France in February 1918. It specialised in low-level ground-attack operations, mainly in support of the British Second Army. Despite its lack of emphasis on air-to-air combat, by the time of the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

, the squadron had claimed 64 enemy aircraft and nine kite balloons.. Five aces had served in it: Francis W. Gillet, future Air Commodore Ronald Bannerman, Frederic Ives Lord,

John McNeaney John Harry McNeaney (30 May 1897 – 1 March 1919) was a Canadian First World War flying ace, flying with both the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force. He was credited with five aerial victories. John McNeaney was the only Canadian Sopwith ...

, and Edgar Taylor. After the end of the war, it formed part of the British Army of Occupation, before being disbanded at

Bickendorf Bickendorf is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and ...

on 15 July 1919.

Post World War I through 1942

It was reformed on 22 March 1937 by splitting off "B" Flight of No. 32 Squadron at

RAF Biggin Hill London Biggin Hill Airport is an operational general aviation airport at Biggin Hill in the London Borough of Bromley, located south-southeast of Central London. The airport was formerly a Royal Air Force station RAF Biggin Hill, and a small ...

, 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 ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

fighters. It received more modern

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 ...

fighters in November 1938, retaining these aircraft when 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 ...

began. It claimed its first success on 21 November 1939, when it shot down a

Dornier Do 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber produced by Dornier Flugzeugwerke for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Designed in the early 1930s as a '' Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") intended to be fast enough to outrun opposing a ...

over the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

. As the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

intensified, it was deployed to Merville, operating over France for ten days, claiming 25 German aircraft. During 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 operated from Biggin Hill and RAF Hawkinge in July, being moved to

RAF Acklington Royal Air Force Acklington, simply known as RAF Acklington, is a former Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station located south west of Amble, Northumberland and north east of Morpeth, Northumberland. The airfield was operational initia ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

for a rest before returning to Biggin in August.

Far Eastern service

In 1942, it was sent to 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 t ...

, arriving in India in May, where the squadron flew primarily ground attack missions, initially with later mark cannon armed Hurricanes. In June 1944 the squadron re-equipped with

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bomb ...

IIs under SEAC command. It disbanded at Meiktila in

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 C. Wells, Joh ...

on 30 December 1945.

Korean War era onwards

The squadron was reformed again on 15 November 1951 as a fighter-reconnaissance squadron, flying

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

FR.9s, based at

RAF Wunstorf Wunstorf () is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 22 km west of Hanover. The following localities belong to the town of Wunstorf: Blumenau (with Liethe), Bokeloh, Großenheidorn, Idensen ...

in West Germany. It was re-equipped with Swift FR.5s in June 1956, being transferred to RAF Gutersloh (approx Sept 1956) due to the proximity of the Russian Zone to

. It was renumbered as 4 Squadron on 1 January 1961.

Operational training role from 1967 onwards

No. 79 Squadron was reformed as part of No. 229 Operational Conversion Unit 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 op ...

in North Devon on 2 January 1967, tasked with training pilots to fly the

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-Ro ...

until disbanded on 2 September 1974, when it was reformed as one of the component squadrons of No.1 Tactical Weapons Unit, flying first Hunters and then the

Hawker Siddeley Hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily ...

T.1 and

BAC Jet Provost The BAC Jet Provost is a British jet trainer aircraft that was in use with the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1955 to 1993. It was originally developed by Hunting Percival from the earlier piston engine-powered Percival Provost basic trainer, a ...

T4 until finally disbanded at

RAF Brawdy RAF Brawdy is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located east of St Davids, Pembrokeshire and south west of Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was operational between 1944 and 1992 being used by both the Royal Air Force and the Royal N ...

on 31 August 1992.Air of Authority: No 76 - 80 Squadron Histories
. ''Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation''. 23 March 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2009.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 79 Squadron Raf Military units and formations established in 1917 079 Squadron 079 Squadron Military units and formations disestablished in 1992 No. 79 1917 establishments in the United Kingdom