Air Force Index

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No. 56 Squadron Royal Air Force    56 Squadron was formed at Gosport on 8 June 1916 and trained at London Columney. It was the first unit equipped with the S.E.5. fighter and was posted to France on 7th April 1917 to serve as a fighter and ground attack force on the Western Front throughout the remainder of the war. The Squadron was disbanded on 22 January 1920; however, eight days later it was reformed at Aboukir Egypt with the renumbering of No 80 Squadron. The Squadron was officially disbanded again on 23 September 1922, but only days later elements were hastily formed into a flight and moved to Constantinople in support of the Chanak crisis where it was under the control of No 208 Squadron whilst maintaining the No 56 Squadron identity. Not long after that flight had left for Turkey, two other flights were reformed at RAF Hawkinge in November 1922. The Squadron was re-united in August 1923, with all three flights located at RAF Biggin Hill. In October 1927 the Squadron settled at RAF North Weald, where it would remain until the start of the Second World War. In May 1938 it was re-equipped with the Hawker Hurricane. Airfields No. 56 Squadron flew from during the war: RAF North Weald, Essex from 3rd September 1939 RAF Martlesham Heath, Suffolk from 22nd October 1939 RAF North Weald from 22nd February 1940 France from 16th May 1940 (Detachment) RAF Digby, Lincolnshire from 31st May 1940 RAF North Weald from 5th June 1940 RAF Boscombe Down, Wiltshire from 1st September 1940 RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire from 29th November 1940 RAF North Weald from 17th December 1940 RAF Martlesham Heath from 23rd June 1941 RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire from 26th June 1941 RAF Snailwell, Suffolk from 30th March 1942 RAF Manston, Kent from 29th May 1942 RAF Snailwell from 1st June 1942 RAF Matlaske, Norfolk from 24th August 1942 RAF Manston from 22nd July 1943 RAF Martlesham Heath, Suffolk from 6th August 1943 RAF Manston from 15th August 1943 RAF Bradwell Bay, Essex from 23rd August 1943 RAF Martlesham Heath from 4th October 1943 RAF Scorton, Yorkshire from 15th February 1944 RAF Acklington, Northumberland from 23rd February 1944 RAF Scorton from 7th March 1944 RAF Ayr, Ayrshire from 30th March 1944 RAF Scorton from 7th April 1944 RAF Newchurch, Kent from 28th April 1944 RAF Matlaske from 23rd September 1944 Grimbergen, B60 from 28th Sept 1944   3rd September 1939 Patrols 6th Sept 1939 Spitfire brings down Hurricane 22nd October 1939 On the Move 22nd February 1940 On the Move 16th May 1940 Move into France 18th May 1940 Hurricane pilots killed in France 19th May 1940 Retreat 20th May 1940 Retreat 21st May 1940 Battle of France 22nd May 1940 Back to England 23rd May 1940 Civilian supply aircraft crashed 25th May 1940 Mid-air collision 27th May 1940 Air cover 29th May 1940 Three Hurricanes shot down over Dunkirk 30th May 1940 Aircraft Lost 31st May 1940 On the Move 7th June 1940 Inconclusive combat over France 10th July 1940 Battle of Britain begins 13th July 1940  Battle of Britain 20th July 1940 Battle of Britain 29th July 1940 Battle of Britain 5th August 1940 New C/O 11th August 1940  Ports and ships attacked 12th August 1940 Battle of Britain 16th August 1940 Aftermath of Eagle Day 17th August 1940 Secret agent mission 18th August 1940 Airfields attacked 20th August 1940 Battle of Britain 20th August 1940  Battle of Britain 26th August 1940  Battle of Britian 31st August 1940  Battle of Britain 1st September 1940 Aircrew exchanged 3rd September 1940 Airfield attacked September 1940 Battle of Britain reminiscences 15th Sept 1940 Crash on exercise 30th September 1940 Dog fight over Portland 29th November 1940 Squadron movements 26th June 1941  On the Move 30th March 1942 Back into combat operations 19th August 1942  Dieppe Raid losses 24th August 1942 New Role 12th October 1942 Second hand aircraft collected July 1943 On the move 15th February 1944 Refitting 28th February 1944 Change of Duty 28th September 1944 On the Move If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Logbooks Do you have a WW2 Flying Log Book in your possession? If so it would be a huge help if you could add logbook entries to our new database. Thank you. View Logbook entries Those known to have served with No. 56 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War 1939-1945. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List Records of No. 56 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 22nd April 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263973 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates. If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. 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