No. 607 (County of Durham) Squadron is an auxiliary 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) an ...

. It was formed in 1930 as a bomber unit in the

Auxiliary Air Force The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), formerly the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), together with the Air Force Reserve, is a component of His Majesty's Reserve Air Forces (Reserve Forces Act 1996, Part 1, Para 1,(2),(c)). It provides a primary rein ...

and changed in 1936 to the fighter role. It fought in that role 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 opposi ...

in Europe and Asia. After the war, in 1946, the squadron reformed as a fighter unit. Awarded the title Royal Auxiliary Air Force by King George in 1947, 607 Sqn was disbanded with all the other flying units of the RAuxAF on 10 March 1957. It reformed on 5 January 2015, as a General Service Support Squadron (GSS).

History

Formation and early years

No. 607 Squadron was formed on 17 March 1930 at the then new airfield of

RAF Usworth Royal Air Force Sunderland'' or ''RAF Sunderland is a former Royal Air Force station in Sunderland. In 1958 the station was closed and the airfield became Sunderland Airport. Following the closure of the airport in 1984, the site has since b ...

, County Durham as a day bomber unit of the

(AuxAF). They became operational in the summer of 1933, having received their first aircraft in December 1932, flying

Westland Wapiti The Westland Wapiti was a British two-seat general-purpose military single-engined biplane of the 1920s. It was designed and built by Westland Aircraft Works to replace the Airco DH.9A in Royal Air Force service. First flying in 1927, the Wa ...

s. First commanding officer was Walter Leslie Runciman (later the 2nd Viscount Runciman of Doxford). In September 1936 the squadron was told that it was to re-role to a fighter squadron and was re-equipped with

Hawker Demon 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. In the run up to WW2, 607 received

Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed private ...

s, which arrived in December 1938.

Second World War

Having achieved their first success downing a DO 18 flying boat in the North Sea and still equipped with Gladiators, the squadron was deployed to France as part of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force in November 1939. During the Battle of France, the squadron operated from various locations, including Saint-Inglevert. In March 1940, the squadron was re-equipped with

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 ...

s, just in time to effectively operate against the modern Luftwaffe aircraft during the Blitzkrieg. Following the British withdrawal, the squadron returned to the United Kingdom and served 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 ...

, firstly in the air defence of the North East of England then on the South coast with 11Gp. In October 1941, the Squadron moved to

RAF Manston Royal Air Force Manston or more simply RAF Manston is a former Royal Air Force station located in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site was split between a commercial airport Kent International Airpo ...

and remained there undertaking anti shipping operations and cross channel fighter sweeps until 1942. During this period, 607 became the first unit to operate the Hurricane in the fighter bomber role and using their "Hurri-bombers" destroyed or damaged several enemy support vessels during the German capital ships "Channel dash!" on 12 February 1942. During 1942, the Squadron was transported to India. There, it joined No. 166 Wing RAF on 25 May 1942. In September 1943, the Squadron's Hurricanes were replaced with Supermarine Spitfires. This change in machine, made the squadron the first unit in

South East Asia Command South East Asia Command (SEAC) was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during the Second World War. History Organisation The initial supreme commander of the theatre was General Sir A ...

to operate such aircraft. It re-equipped with the Spitfire Mk.VIII in March 1944, and flew these in support of XIV Army, including the Imphal and Kohima actions, until disbanding on 19 August 1945 at Mingaladon in Burma. 607 were one of the last units to finish operations in this theatre.

Post-war

On 10 May 1946, No. 607 Squadron reformed at

RAF Ouston Royal Air Force Ouston, or more simply RAF Ouston, is a former Royal Air Force station that was located near the village of Stamfordham and the village of Heddon-on-the-Wall on Hadrian's Wall near Newcastle upon Tyne. It was built as a Second ...

as a day fighter squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. After flying Spitfire F.14 and F.22s for five years, it converted to

De Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and the first to be powered by ...

s. These were flown until February 1957 when, along with all the other flying units of the RAuxAF, it was disbanded on 10 March 1957.

Reformation

Re-formed 5 January 2015, the squadron is now a General Service Support Squadron (GSS) and operates from

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. The squadron has an established strength of almost 120 staff and has won awards for its recruitment and retention abilities.

Aircraft operated

Squadron locations

Commanding officers

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

The Official RAF Website about 602 to 607 sqn. in the Battle of Britain

The Official RAF Website about 607 sqn.

* ttp://norav.50megs.com Norav
Official site of Squadron leader John Sample

{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 607 Squadron Raf 607 Squadron Fighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force in World War II RAF squadrons involved in the Battle of Britain Military units and formations established in 1930