No. 52 Squadron RAF

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

No. 52 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron that saw service in both World War I and World War II.

[edit] History

No. 52 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed at Hounslow, Middlesex, on 15 May 1916. The squadron became part of the Air Force when the Royal Flying Corps merged with the Royal Naval Air Service in 1918.

Several years have passed since Number 52 Squadron was disbanded at RAF Changi,Singapore.

It was reformed at RAF Seletar in March 1967 with the arrival of three Andover C Mk1 aircraft adding to the three that had arrived in December 1966.

The new Squadron Commander was Sqn Ldr Barry Northwood.

The aircraft were designated XS 606, XS 607, XS 608, XS 612, XS613 and XS 637.

The aircrew generally flew as crews and after some minor adjusyments, these crews were initially:

Captain Sqn Ldr Barry Northwood

Co Pilot Flt Lt Pat Plunkett

Navigator Flt Lt Gerry Payne

Air Quartermaster

Captain Flt Lt Peter Goodman (Benny)

Co Pilot Flt Lt Dennis Buck

Navigator Fg Off John Griffin

Air Quartermaster Flt Sgt Mick Howe

Captain Flt Lt Wood (Timber)

Co Pilot Fg Off Dave Eastmond

Navigator

Air Quartermaster

Captain Flt Lt Ed Meddings

Co Pilot Fg Off John Douglas

Navigator Fg Off Ralph Brunt

Air Quartermaster

Captain Fg Off Hamish Raynham

Co Pilot Fg Off John Austin

Navigator

Air Quartermaster

Captain Flt Lt George Thompson (Jock)

Co Pilot Fg Off Brian Meinke

Navigator Fg Off Gary Barber

Air Quartermaster

Captain Fg Off Dave Robertson (Robbie)

Co Pilot Flt Lt Andy Coverdale

Navigator Flt Lt Dave Bray

Air Quartermaster Flt Sgt Ted Parker

Captain

Co Pilot

Navigator

Air Quartermaster

What was the purpose of deploying Andovers to the Far East Air Force?

Confrontation with Indonesia had finished just before the Squadron Andovers arrived and rumour has it that the Air Commander was all for sending the aircraft back to the UK.

Work was found for the Squadron with regular flights to RAAF Butterworth, a twice weekly flight to RAF Kuching Seria Anduki and RAF Labuan with the aircraft returning after a nightstop. The latter flight was also utilised to ferry ghurka troops to Singapore for onward flights to Nepal.