No. 122 (Bombay) Squadron was a

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 ...

fighter squadron during the First and Second World Wars.

History

The squadron was formed on 1 January 1918 at

Sedgeford Sedgeford is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, about 5 miles south of the North Sea and east of the Wash. It is 36 miles north-west of Norwich. Its area of had a population, including Fring, of 613 at the 2011 Ce ...

as a day bomber unit with the

Airco DH.4 The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) was an early British aircraft manufacturer. Established during 1912, it grew rapidly during the First World War, referring to itself as the largest aircraft company in the world by 1918. Ai ...

, the intention was to train the squadron for operations on the de Havilland DH.9 but the squadron disbanded without seeing action on 17 August 1918. The squadron was reformed at

RAF Upper Heyford RAF Upper Heyford was a Royal Air Force station located north-west of Bicester near the village of Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, England. In the Second World War the airfield was used by Bomber Command. During the Cold War, Upper Heyford was one ...

in October 1918 with the intent to operate the de Havilland DH.10 but the Armistice was declared before the squadron had any aircraft and it was disbanded without being operational on 20 November 1918. No. 122 was reformed in 1941 at

RAF Turnhouse Royal Air Force Turnhouse or more simply RAF Turnhouse is a former Royal Air Force Sector Station located in Edinburgh, Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of G ...

with the Supermarine Spitfire I to operate convoy patrols in the Firth of Forth, it soon moved south into England to become part of the Hornchurch Wing with cannon-equipped Spitfires and it flew sweeps over northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and participated in the

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

operations. In 1942 František Fajtl became the squadron commander, the first Czech to lead a RAF squadron. In October 1942 it was reequipped with the Spitfire IX and continued operations over France. In January 1944 it re-equipped with the

North American Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

to operate long-range bomber escort duties and it also attacked targets in France and the Low Countries. Within a few months the Mustangs were converted into fighter-bombers and the squadron started long-range ground-attack sorties into continental Europe. Under the command of Squadron Leader

Ernest Joyce Ernest Edward Mills Joyce AM ( – 2 May 1940) was a Royal Naval seaman and explorer who participated in four Antarctic expeditions during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, in the early 20th century. He served under both Robert Falcon ...

, it was heavily involved in D-Day operations and within a few weeks had moved to France to support the invasion. After three-months of intense operations the squadron was withdrawn to England and continued till the end of the war providing long-range escorts to both Bomber Command and the United States

8th Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces ...

. After the end of the war the squadron was re-equipped with the Spitfire F21 but was disbanded at RAF Dalcross on 1 April 1946 when it was renumbered No. 41 Squadron.

Aircraft operated

References

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External links

Air of Authority - A History of RAF OrganisationOfficial history on RAF.mod.uk
{{RAF squadrons

122 122 may refer to: *122 (number), a natural number *AD 122, a year in the 2nd century AD *122 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *122 (film), ''122'' (film), a 2019 Egyptian psychological horror film *"One Twenty Two", a 2022 single by the American roc ...

Military units and formations established in 1918 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946 1918 establishments in the United Kingdom