No. 65 Squadron was 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) and ...

First World War

The squadron was first formed at Wyton on 1 August 1916 as a squadron of the

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

with a core provided from the training station at

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. It served as a training unit as part of the Norwich based No. 7 Training Wing until equipping with

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 b ...

s and transferring to France as an operational fighter squadron in October 1917. By the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, it had claimed about 200 victories. Thirteen aces had served with it, including :

John Inglis Gilmour John Inglis Gilmour, (28 June 1896 – 24 February 1928) was a British flying ace of the First World War. He was the highest scoring Scotsman in the Royal Flying Corps, with 39 victories. Gilmour began his military career in the Argyll and Su ...

, Joseph White, Maurice Newnham, Thomas Williams, William Harry Bland, Alfred Leitch,

Jack Armand Cunningham Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Armand Cunningham, (4 December 1890 – 3 April 1956) was an English World War I flying ace credited with 10 aerial victories. His victory record was remarkable for being scored over a four-year stretch, using four differ ...

, Godfrey Brembridge, and George M. Cox. Arthur G. Jones-Williams, who would go on to long-range flight record attempts in 1929, also served in the squadron.

Second World War

Royal Air Force- 2nd Tactical Air Force, 1943-1945

The squadron reformed in 1934 at

RAF Hornchurch Royal Air Force Hornchurch or RAF Hornchurch is a former Royal Air Force sector station in the parish of Hornchurch, Essex (now the London Borough of Havering in Greater London), located to the southeast of Romford. The airfield was known as Sut ...

with the

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 ...

, converting to the

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 ...

in 1936 and the

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 ...

in 1937. During

World War II 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 opposin ...

, the squadron operated

Supermarine Spitfires The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...

, having converted from Gladiators in 1939. In December 1943, the squadron converted to

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 H ...

s. For a period of time their

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

was Reg Grant.Wing Commander Reginald Joseph Cowan Grant
. New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum. Retrieved 2011-05-18.

Post war

In 1946, the unit converted to the Spitfire LF.XVIe and then the

de Havilland Hornet The de Havilland DH.103 Hornet, developed by de Havilland, was a fighter aircraft driven by two piston engines. It further exploited the wooden construction techniques that had been pioneered by the de Havilland Mosquito. Development of the ...

, the

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 ...

F.4 and F.8, then 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-R ...

F.6 (December 1956) at RAF Duxford from August 1952 until the squadron disbanded on 31 March 1961, and then reformed in 1964 as a

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

unit, operating the

Bristol Bloodhound The Bristol Bloodhound is a British ramjet powered surface-to-air missile developed during the 1950s. It served as the UK's main air defence weapon into the 1990s and was in large-scale service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the forces of f ...

. During this period, it was based at

RAF Seletar Seletar Airport is a civilian international airport serving the north-east region of Singapore. It is located approximately northwest from Changi Airport, the country's main airport, and about north from the main commercial city-centre. ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, and it disbanded again in 1970. From 1970, No. 65 Squadron became the reserve squadron number for

No. 226 Operational Conversion Unit RAF No. 226 Operational Conversion Unit was a Royal Air Force Operational Conversion Unit which was active between 1946 and 1991. Operational history It was first formed on 15 August 1946 at RAF Molesworth under No. 11 Group RAF, No. 11 Group of RAF ...

at RAF Coltishall, until its disbandment in the mid 1970s. It was thereafter the reserve squadron number of

No. 229 Operational Conversion Unit RAF Conversion units and operational conversion units (OCUs) were training units of the Royal Air Force (RAF). History With the introduction of new heavy bombers, the four-engined Short Stirling, Avro Lancaster, and Handley Page Halifax, the Roya ...

at RAF Coningsby. It was last disbanded at

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 hom ...

in June 1992, by re-numbering as No. 56 (Reserve) Squadron, after serving as the Operational conversion unit for the Panavia Tornado F.2 and F.3 interceptor, with the alternative identity of

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * Jefford, C.G. RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing, 1998 (second edition 2001). . * * *

External links

Royal Air Force History: History of No. 65 Squadron

{{RAF squadrons 065 Squadron 065 Squadron Military units and formations established in 1916 Military units and formations disestablished in 1992 1916 establishments in the United Kingdom