No. 84 Squadron RAF

No. 84 Squadron RAF
No. 84 Squadron RAF
	File:84sqncrst.png Official Squadron Badge of No. 84 Squadron RAF
Active	7 Jan 1917 - 30 Jan 1920; 13 Aug 1920 - 20 Feb 1953; 20 Feb 1953 - 31 Oct 1971; 17 Jan 1972 - present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Role	Search and Rescue Squadron
Part of	Search and Rescue Force
Base	RAF Akrotiri
Motto(s)	Latin: Scorpiones pungunt; ("Scorpions sting")
Helicopter	Bell Griffin HAR.2
Battle honours	Western Front 1917-1918, Cambrai 1917, Somme 1918, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Iraq 1920, Iraq 1923-1925, Iraq 1928-1929, Egypt and Libya, 1940-1942, Greece 1940-1941, Iraq 1941, Habbaniya, Syria 1941, Malaya 1942, North Burma 1944, Manipur 1944.; The Honours marked with an asterix* are those emblazoned on the Squadron Standard
Commanders
Notable; commanders	William Sholto Douglas; Francis Fogarty
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	A Scorpion
Squadron Codes	UR (Apr 1939 - Sep 1939); VA (Sep 1939 - Mar 1941); PY (Jan 1945 - Dec 1946)

No. 84 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is at present a Search and Rescue Squadron based at RAF Akrotiri, it uses the Bell Griffin HAR.2 helicopter. It is currently the only operational part of the RAF Search and Rescue Force after the stand-down of the UK effort on 5th October 2015.^[1]

History

World War I

No. 84 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was formed on 7 January 1917 and moved to France in September 1917. It flew the SE.5 over the Western front, at one time based in Bertangles, France until it returned to the UK in August 1919.

Between the wars

The squadron was disbanded on 30 January 1920. Its aces included Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor, Hugh Saunders and Walter A. Southey.

The squadron was reformed on 13 August 1920 at Baghdad in Iraq, moving to Shaibah in September, where it remained for the next 20 years. Its initial equipment was DH.9As (until January 1929) and these were replaced by Wapitis (beginning October 1928), Vincents (December 1934) and Blenheims Mk.Is ( February 1939).

World War II

The Squadron moved to Egypt in September 1940.

It operated in Greece, Iraq, and the Western Desert before moving briefly to the Far East. No. 84 Squadron flew the Vultee Vengeance dive bomber from Assam in North-East India but, contrary to some reports, not the Commonwealth Boomerang fighter from New Guinea during World War II (this was done by No. 84 Squadron RAAF). The squadron re-equipped with the Mosquito in February 1945.

Postwar

In September 1945 the squadron re-equipped with the Bristol Beaufighter.

In 1949 No. 84 Squadron flew Bristol Brigands during Operation Firedog.

84 Squadron Bell Griffin HAR2 dips its bucket off the coast of Atlit, Israel during firefighting efforts on December 3, 2010

The squadron was disbanded on 20 February 1953, but 204 Squadron was renumbered to No. 84 Squadron on the same day. The squadron was the transport squadron for the RAF in the Middle East till 1971. Its Vickers Valetta flight was detached to become No. 233 Squadron RAF on 1 September 1960 at RAF Khormaksar to provide general transport for the British Army in the Aden Protectorate. The squadron was disbanded at Muharraq on 31 October 1971.

The squadron was reformed on 17 January 1972 from 1563 Flt and a detachment from 230 Sqn^{[citation needed]} with Westland Whirlwind HAR.10s at RAF Akrotiri. The squadron was also based at Nicosia International Airport to aid UNFICYP operations and operate search and rescue.^[2] It later (March 1982) replaced the Whirlwind with the Westland Wessex HC.2 and later still (June 1984) with the Westland Wessex HU.5C. It was the last squadron to use the Westland Wessex.^{[citation needed]}

Since January 2003 the squadron has been assigned to British Forces Cyprus at RAF Akrotiri in the search and rescue role using the Bell Griffin HAR.2. The helicopters are leased from and maintained by a civilian company.^{[citation needed]} 84 Squadron aircraft are also used for UN duties in maintaining the buffer zone separating Cypriot and Turkish forces.^{[citation needed]} In recognition of this role the aircraft are always unarmed and carry a light blue band around their tail, matching the blue berets of UN peacekeepers.^{[citation needed]}

84 Squadron is the only serving squadron never to have been based in the United Kingdom.

Symbols

The squadron's badge, approved by George VI in December 1936 is the scorpion, and its motto is Scorpiones pungunt, Latin for "Scorpions sting". As a result, a single pet scorpion named Frank is kept as a mascot at RAF Akrotiri.

The squadron is allocated the ICAO designator AKG and the callsign GRIFTER.

Aircraft operated

1917 Royal Aircraft Factory BE12 & BE12a
1917 Royal Aircraft Factory BE12 & BE2c
1917 Nieuport 12
1917 Curtiss JN4
1917 Avro 504K
1917 Sopwith 1½ Strutter
1917-1919 SE5
1920-1929 Airco DH.9A
1928-1935 Westland Wapiti
1934-1939 Vickers Vincent
1939-1941 Bristol Blenheim I
1941-1942 Bristol Blenheim IV
1942-1945 Vultee Vengeance I, IA, II and III
1945-1946 de Havilland Mosquito VI
1946-1948 Bristol Beaufighter X
1949-1953 Bristol Brigand B1
1953-1960 Vickers Valleta C1
1956-1957 Bristol Sycamore HR14
1956-1957 Percival Pembroke C1
1958-1967 Blackburn Beverley C1
1967-1970 Hawker Siddeley Andover C1
1972-1982 Westland Whirlwind HAR10
1982-2003 Westland Wessex HC2, HC5C, then HAR2
2003- Bell Griffin HAR2

Notable squadron members

William Sholto Douglas, World War I ace
Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor, VC, World War I ace
George Augustus Vaughn, Jr., World War I ace^[3]
Walter Southey, World War I ace^[4]
Carl Frederick Falkenberg, World War I ace^[5]
Robert Grosvenor, World War I ace^[6]
Sidney Highwood, World War I ace^[7]
Hugh Saunders, World War I ace^[8]
John Victor Sorsoleil, World War I ace^[9]
Edwin A. Clear, World War I ace^[10]
Norman Mawle, World War I ace^[11]
Roy Manzer, World War I ace^[12]
John S. Ralston, World War I ace^[13]
Frederick Elliott Brown, World War I ace^[14]
William Henry Brown, World War I ace^[15]
Kenneth Leask, World War I ace^[16]
Percy Hobson, World War I ace^[17]
Cecil Thompson, World War I ace^[18]
Air Marshal George Owen Johnson, World War I ace^[19]
John McCudden, World War I ace
James Martin Child, World War I ace^[20]
Arthur Murland Gill, World War 2 Commanding Officer in Burma

References

Citations

^ http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/chivenor-sea-king-completes-final-raf-uk-operational-sortie-05102015
^ Green 1976, p. 13.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 371.
^ Above the Trenches, pp. 346-347.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 151.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 179.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 194.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 331-332.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 346.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 108.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 262.
^ Above the Trenches, pp. 258-259.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 312.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 90.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 90.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 235.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 196.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 361.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 213.
^ Above the Trenches, p. 104.

Bibliography

Bowyer, Chaz. Mosquito Squadrons of the Royal Air Force. London: Ian Allan Ltd., 1984. ISBN 0-7110-1425-6.
Green, W; Swanborough, G (1976). Royal Air Force Yearbook 1976. Bromley: Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
Halley, James J. The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918-88. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. ISBN 0-85130-164-9.
Jefford, Wing Commander C.G., MBE,BA,RAF (Retd). 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. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.
Neate, Don. Scorpions Sting: The Story of No. 84 Squadron Royal Air Force. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1994. ISBN 0-85130-222-X.
Rawlings, John D.R. Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982. ISBN 0-7106-0187-5.
Shores, Christopher F., et al. Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-1920. Grub Street, 1990. ISBN 0-948817-19-4, ISBN 978-0-948817-19-9.