1 September 1917 – 1 April 1918 (RFC) 1 April 1918 – 7 August 1919 (RAF) 10 October 1939 – 30 December 1946 31 January 1947 – 31 March 1977 1 April 1977 – 1 July 1991 23 September 1992 – 1 October 1994 30 June 2009 – present
GR (Apr 1939 – Sep 1939; Oct 1939 – May 1940) QJ (May 1940 – Dec 1946) DL (Jan 1947 – Sep 1950) (formerly No. 91 Sqn) 8L (Sep 1950 – Apr 1951)
Military unit
Number 92 Squadron, also known as No. 92 (East India) Squadron and currently as No. 92 Tactics and Training Squadron, of the Royal Air Force is a test and evaluation squadron based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. It was formed as part of the Royal Flying Corps at London Colney as a fighter squadron on 1 September 1917. It deployed to France in July 1918 and saw action for just four months, until the end of the war. During the conflict it flew both air superiority and direct ground support missions. It was disbanded at Eil on 7 August 1919. Reformed on 10 October 1939,at Tangmere Airfield, the unit was supposed to be equipped with medium bombers but in the spring of 1940 it became one of the first RAF units to receive the Supermarine Spitfire, going on to fight in the Battle of Britain.
Officers and guests celebrating the first anniversary of the arrival of No. 92 Squadron RAF at RAF Biggin Hill, September 1941. The group includes, in the front row, (left to right): Wing Commander John A. Kent (Kentowski), Flight Lieutenant Anthony Bartley, Mrs Wade, Flight Lieutenant Robert Holland, Pilot Officer Trevor Wade and two unidentified ladies. And in the back - Pilot Officer Sebastian Maitland-Thompson, Flying Officer Tom Weiss (Intelligence Officer) and Flying Officer Geoffrey Wellum.
In February 1942, the Squadron was posted to Egypt to join Air Headquarters Western Desert to support the Allies on the ground. Personnel arrived in Egypt in April but no aircraft were available. Some pilots flew operations with Hawker Hurricanes of No. 80 Squadron. Spitfires finally arrived in August and the squadron commenced operations from RAF Heliopolis over the El Alamein sector, and then with their Spitfire Vs at Landing Ground 173 in the Western Desert. No. 92 Squadron provided air cover at the Battle of El Alamein and on 18 April 1943, 11 Spitfires from the squadron flew top cover at the Palm Sunday Massacre during which approximately 75 axis aircraft were disabled or destroyed.[9] Following the Allied victory in North Africa, the Squadron moved to Malta in June. It went on to provide air cover for the 8th Army during the campaigns in Sicily and Italy, arriving on Italian soil on 14 September 1943. No. 92 Squadron then followed the armies up the Italian coast as part of No. 244 Wing and No. 211 (Offensive Fighter) Group. During World War II the Squadron claimed the highest number of victories scored, 317, in the RAF.[10]
Cold War
No. 92 (F) Squadron Canadair Sabre F.4XD769 in 1955 wearing the squadron's red and yellow check markings on its fuselageHawker Hunter F.6XG189 of No. 92 (F) Squadron's "Blue Diamonds" aerobatic team in 1962.
In 1961, No. 92 (F) Squadron, under the command of Sqn. Ldr. Brian Mercer, was chosen as Fighter Command's official aerobatic squadron – the RAF Aerobatic Display Team, taking over from "Treble One"'s Black Arrows. Originally forming in 1960, the team was initially called the Falcons before later adopting the name the Blue Diamonds under which they operated 16 bright blue painted Hawker Hunter F.6s.[12] No. 92 (F) Squadron thrilled the crowds with its precision display including looping a formation of 18 aircraft, only four fewer than the world record 22 Hawker Hunters looped by the Black Arrows of No. 111 (F) Squadron at the Farnborough Airshow in September 1958.[13] When they re-equipped with the English Electric Lightning F.2 from April 1963 onward they continued to perform with these.[14]
In December 1965, along with No. 19 (F) Squadron they were reallocated to RAF Germany initially at RAF Geilenkirchen, moving to join No. 19 (F) Squadron at RAF Gütersloh. They remained at RAF Gütersloh from January 1968 until the Squadron disbanded on 31 March 1977.[15]
In January 1977, No. 92 (Designate) Squadron had begun training as a McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.2 air defence unit at RAF Wildenrath and on 1 April this unit formally adopted the No. 92 (F) numberplate.[16]
On 25 May 1982, RAF Phantom XV422 of 92 Sqn shot down RAF JaguarXX963 of 14 Sqn from RAF Bruggen with a Sidewinder, over Germany, by mistake when the Phantom pilot did not realise that he was fully armed.[17]
In November 2008, it was announced that the Tactics and Training Wing of the Air Warfare Centre was to become No. 92 (Reserve) Tactics and Training Squadron. The Squadron officially stood up after 14 years on 30 June 2009 at the College Hall at RAFC Cranwell.[16] On 1 February 2018, the Royal Air Force rescinded all (Reserve) nameplates changing No. 92 (Reserve) Tactics and Training Squadron to No. 92 Tactics and Training Squadron.[20] As part of their work at the Air Warfare Centre, No. 92 Squadron helped design and carry out Exercise Cobra Warrior 2019 for units of the RAF, Luftwaffe, Italian and Israeli Air Forces.[21]
Robert Stanford Tuck 27 enemy aircraft destroyed, two shared destroyed, six probably destroyed, six damaged and one shared damaged
Donald Ernest Kingaby 21 kills plus two shared kills, six probable kills and 11 damaged - 14½ of his kills came against the Messerschmitt Bf 109
Allan Wright 11 kills three shared kills, five probable kills and seven damaged
Ronnie Fokes nine kills, four shared kills, two unconfirmed kills, three probables, one damaged and one shared damaged
Brian Kingcome eight kills and 3 shared destroyed, one 1 shared unconfirmed, five probables, 13 damaged
John Fraser Drummond eight kills, one shared kill, three probables and four damaged
Tony Bartley eight kills with 92 squadron, 12 confirmed kills during WW2, plus one unconfirmed destroyed, five 'probables' and eight damaged
Adolf Pietrasiak Polish Air Force (P.A.F.) 8 1/10 enemy aircraft destroyed, 2/5 damaged.[23][24]
Honours
In 1950 the Battle of Britain class steam locomotive No. 34081 was named "92 Squadron". This locomotive was saved from the scrapyard in 1976 and is now owned and operated by The Battle of Britain Locomotive Society[25] and having been based on the North Norfolk Railway[26] in recent years, has returned to the Nene Valley Railway – where it was originally restored – pending a major overhaul and a return to traffic following the expiration of its boiler ticket in mid-2008. The locomotive returned to steam again in December 2016.[27]
Derry, Martin and Robinson, Neil. Flight Craft 11: English Electric Lightning. Pen & Sword, 2016. ISBN978-1473890558
Forrester, Larry and Wootton, Frank. Fly For Your Life: The Glorious Story Of Englands Greatest Air Ace Robert Stanford Tuck And His Deadly Spitfire. Bantam Books, 1956 (reprinted in 1978 by Bantam Books and by Cerebus in 2002 as Fly for your life: the story of Bob Stanford Tuck).
Halley, James J. The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918–1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. ISBN0-85130-164-9.
Jefford, C.G. RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. ISBN1-84037-141-2.
Kingcombe, Brian, DSO, DFC & Bar. A Willingness to Die: Memories from Fighter Command. Tempus Publishing, 1992(reprinted 2007). ISBN0-7524-4024-1
Morris, Simon. A Cobra in the Sky The history of 92 Squadron 1975
Rawlings, J.D.R. "Squadron Histories: No. 92". Air Pictorial, Vol. 23, No. 7. July 1961. pp. 207–208.
Rawlings, John D.R. Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1969 (new edition 1976, reprinted 1978). ISBN0-354-01028-X.
Robinson, Anthony. RAF Fighter Squadrons in the Battle of Britain. London: Arms and Armour Press Ltd., 1987 (Reprinted in 1999 by Brockhampton Press, ISBN1-86019-907-0.)
Robinson, M. Best of the Few: 92 Squadron 1939–40. (Robinson 2001)
Wellum, Geoffrey. First Light: The True Story of the Boy Who Became a Man in the War-Torn Skies Above Britain. London: Penguin Viking, 2002. ISBN0-670-91248-4.