History of No. XXIV Squadron RAF

 

In omina parati ( Ready for all things )

No. 24 Squadron was formed on 1st September 1915, at Hounslow Heath as a fighter unit, receiving D.H.2s at the end of the year. It moved to France in February, 1916, at a time when German fighters were making reconnaissance and bombing sorties by the R.F.C. very costly due to the lack of effective fighters. The squadron’s D.H.2s played a large part in defeating enemy attempts to obtain air superiority over the Western Front in the first half of 1916 but were rapidly overtaken by aircraft development and were obsolete within a short time.

In May, 1917, No.24 re-equipped with D.H.5s which were flown till the end of 1917 when they were replaced by S.E.5As. For the rest of the war, the squadron flew fighter patrols over the Western Front, with occasional ground attack missions, and in February, 1919 returned to the U.K. where it disbanded on 1st February, 1920.

On 1st April, 1920, No 24 reformed at Kenley as a communications and training unit with Bristol Fighters. Its communications tasks involved flying Air Ministry staff and Government members in what would, in future years, be referred to as V.I.P. flights. It also had a flight of training aircraft to provide flying practice for pilots on the staff of the Air Ministry. On 1st February, 1927, the squadron moved to Northolt and in July. 1933 to Hendon where it remained throughout the Second World War.

After flying a variety of single-engined types since its formation, No 24 received its first real transport in March, 1935, a D.H.89A, supplemented by a D.H.86 in October, 1937. It was intended to equip the squadron with 20 Mentors as standard equipment but the war overtook this plan and No. 24 began its wartime career with a wide variety of aircraft of civil design, including Rapides taken over from civil airlines which were later impressed. For the first nine months of the war, communications and mail flying between the U.K. and France was a major task but after June, 1940, flying was confined to the U.K. with the exception of a few special flights.In April, 1942, the squadron was transferred to Ferry Command, the predecessor of Transport Command and in the same month began flights to Malta with passengers and mail.

In April, 1943, a flight of Dakotas was added and in May the first York was put into service for V.I.P. use. As the Allied armies liberated more of Europe, the extent of overseas flights increased and in October, 1944, the squadron was reorganised; in place of the collection of transport types, the Dakota became the standard equipment of the squadron, with a flight of Ansons for short range work.

In February, 1946, the squadron moved to Bassingbourn where it absorbed No. 1359 V.I.P. Flight in June. In November, 1951, Hastings became the standard type and although V.I.P. flying continued, the squadron became more a general transport unit than a specialised communications squadron.

In January, 1957, No. 24 moved to Colerne to join a wing of Hastings squadrons and flew this type until January, 1968, when it began to re-equip with Hercules before moving to RAF Lyneham, the Squadron’s current base.