Ventre a terre - All out

Formed officially at Ismailia, Egypt on 24 March 1915 from an RFC detachment in the region, No. 30 Squadron spent several months in a state of flux before achieving full squadron status by the end of the year. With its predecessor having defended the Suez Canal against Turkish attacks during 1914,On 20 April, the half-flight left India for Mesopotamia (Iraq) to provide air support to Indian and British troops against the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). The unit was officially known as the No. 30 Squadron then formed several detachments to protect key installations in Mesopotamia, including the oil pipeline at Basra Upon its arrival in Basra on 26 May, the half-flight took delivery of two Maurice Farman Shorthorns and a Maurice Farman Longhorn. These three biplanes were of a "pusher" design, so-called because the propeller faced backwards, behind the cockpit and were already obsolete. In particular, they were not suitable for desert conditions: their top speed was only 50 mph (80 km/h), while the wind (known locally as the shamal) often reached 80 mph (129 km/h). Secondly, the warmer air reduced aerodynamic lift, rendering the Farmans unable to take off on some occasion . In April 1916, the Squadron carried out the world's first air supply operation, when food and ammunition was dropped to the besieged British forces attempting to defend Kut-el-Amara against the Turks. Despite the two-week operation, in which 13 tons of supplies were dropped using BE2s, Longhorns and Shorthorns, the garrison had surrendered by the end of the month. Reconnaissance and bombing then occupied the Squadron until the end of the war, when it was reduced to a cadre in April 1919. February 1920 saw the Squadron returned to full strength with the arrival of DH9s and RE8s equipped for the day bomber role. For the next 20 years, No. 30 Squadron remained in Iraq before moving to Egypt shortly before the outbreak of World War II. after the Italian declaration war in June 1940. No.30 Squadron's Blenheims were converted into IF fighters, and were used to escort bombers as they attacked Italian targets in the Western Desert. In November 1940 the squadron moved again, this time to Eleusis in Greece, as part of the British contribution to the Greek defence against the Italians. After the German invasion the squadron was forced to evacuate to Crete, and then back to Egypt. A great number of the British aircraft sent to Greece were lost in the fighting, and on their return to Egypt No.30 Squadron was reequipped with the Hawker Hurricane. For the rest of the year the squadron operated as a night fighter unit, defending Alexandria. hen the situation in the Far East worsened the squadron was transferred to Colombo Racecourse Airstrip in Ceylon arriving on 6 March 1942, just in time to assist in resisting the Japanese carrier strike against the island in early April. In February 1944 it moved to the Burma front flying escort and ground attack missions and in May 1944 was re-equipped with American Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, which it took back into action in October until May 1945.After the Japanese surrender the squadron remained in India and its Thunderbolts were replaced by Hawker Tempest F Mk 2s in March 1946. It was disbanded on 1 Dec 1946. On 24 November 1947 the squadron was reformed at RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire in the transport role, operating as a unit within the Royal Air Force Transport Command. It flew the Dakota on many humanitarian supply flights during the Berlin Airlift. Re-equipment with the Vickers Valetta came in December 1950. The heavier four-engine Blackburn Beverley was flown between April 1957 and September 1967. The Squadron temporarily disbanded in September 1967 but quickly reformed at RAF Lyneham equipped with turbine-propeller powered Lockheed Hercules transports, maintaining the units transport role. Reformed at Oakington in late 1947, as part of RAF Transport Command, the unit's Dakotas took part in the Berlin Airlift before being re-equipped with Valettas and moving to Abingdon in November 1950. In 1957, the Squadron received Beverleys, moving to Kenya in 1959 and then on to Bahrain some five years later. Having disbanded as part of the overall drawdown of RAF forces in the Middle East in 1967, No. 30 Squadron was reformed yet again at Fairford in June 1968 as a Hercules transport squadron, moving to its current base at Lyneham in 1971. From here, the squadron and its aircraft regularly deploy on operations, having been involved in almost every RAF operation in recent years to such locations as Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq amongst others.

No.30 Sqn Aviation Art Prints, Paintings and Drawings Aviation Art

History of No. 30 Squadron - Egypt and Mesopotamia 1914 to 1919 by Maj J Everidge. This single edition is sold out.

Text for the above items :

History of No. 30 Squadron - Egypt and Mesopotamia 1914 to 1919 by Maj J Everidge. 30 Squadron served in the Middle East theatre in the Great War after being formed from different Flights in England, Egypt and Mesopotamia (Iraq) The narrative opens early in 1915 with operations by C Flight to thwart Turkeys thrust towards the Suez Canal. A Flight was formed in Mesopotamia by Imperial details from India, Australia and New Zealand operating out of Basra, while B Flight came from England. The squadron helped supply the besieged garrison at Kut -al-Asmara, dropping supplies by parachute. It also fell victim to the capitulation of General Townshends army at Kut, where many of its records were lost. Two of its officers, along with their observers and about 40 groundcrew, were captured by the Turks and forced to take part in a death march to Mosul in northern Iraq in which most of them perished. Equipped at first with seaplanes converted for use on land, the squadron later used the unreliable Maurice Farmans, (The destruction of three of these in a gale in 1916, the history laconically remarks probably saved several flying officers to the Service) The squadron finally gained air superiority over the Turks, who were equipped with German Fokker and Albatros aircraft, when they were re-equipped with B.E2Cs, Voisins, and later with 120 Martinsydes. The desert climate presented special difficulties for flying, including dust storms, engines overheating, and warping of spars and propellors, but the squadron maintained daily patrols despite such arduous problems. After re-entrenching following the fall of Kut on April 29th 1916, the British went over to the offensive in December 1916, and by mid-March 1918 the Turks had been cleared from the Tigris and Baghdad had fallen. 30 Squadron supported the offensive with reconaissance, bombing and other combat missions. This history is an engrossing account of a difficult and often neglected front of the Great War, and sheds light on similar problems encountered by coaltion forces currently deployed in the same region.

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View No.30 Sqn RAF Aircraft

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View No.30 Sqn RAF Signatures

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