No. 3 Squadron RAF

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No. 3 Squadron
3 Squadron badge
Active 18 May 1912 (RFC)
Role Offensive Support
Garrison/HQ RAF Coningsby
Motto Tertius primus erit (Latin: "The third shall be the first")
Equipment Typhoon F2
Battle honours Western Front 1914-1918, Mons, Somme 1918, Low Countries 1940, Battle of Britain 1940, Normandy 1944, Arnhem, France and Germany 1944-1945, Iraq 2003
Insignia
Identification
symbol
On a monolith, a cockatrice

No. 3 (F) Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Typhoon F2 from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire.

Contents

[edit] History

No. 3 Squadron (Royal Flying Corps) was formed at Larkhill in May 1912 from No 2 Company of the Air Battalion, Royal Engineers. 3 Sqn was actually the first squadron to receive heavier than air flying machines, hence the motto "Tertius primus erit", meaning "The third shall be the first". In 1913, 3 Squadron deployed to Halton in Buckinghamshire to support the land manoeuvres of the Household Division. A temporary airfield was set up on what later became RAF Halton's Maitland Parade Square. During the exercise, 3 Squardon flew a number of reconnaissance sorties and staged the first confrontation between an airship and an aeroplane.[1]

Sent to France on the outbreak of the First World War, the squadron initially operated in the reconnaissance role using a variety of aircraft types. Later, with the introduction of Sopwith Camels, a fighter/scout role was taken on.

The inter-war years saw the squadron operate a variety of different types, based in the UK. The only highlight of these years was the 1935 deployment to the Sudan during the Italian invasion of Abyssinia.

World War II began with 3 Sqn in Scotland with the Hawker Hurricane, as part of Fighter Command. The squadron took part in the Battle of Britain, and later in the war, equipped now with Tempests, it shot down several hundred German V1 flying bombs over England.

The squadron moved onto jets with the De Havilland Vampire during 1948, in Germany, where it had remained after moving there in the latter stages of the war. Sabres and Hunters replaced the Vampires during the 1950s, followed by Gloster Javelins and then a conversion onto Canberra bombers.

3 Sqn's association with the Harrier began in the early 1970s with the Harrier GR1. The squadron received the later GR3 and GR5 model Harriers successively at its Gutersloh base, finally receiving the GR7 and relocating to Laarbruch in the 1990s. In the 1999, with the drawdown of the RAF in Germany, 3 Sqn moved back to the UK along with its sister 4 Sqn. The two squadrons operated at RAF Cottesmore, being joined by the other Harrier operator, 1 Sqn, in 2001.

No. 3 Sqn, as part of Joint Force Harrier, operated alongside the Fleet Air Arm Sea Harriers, and itself was capable of deployment from the Royal Navy aircraft carriers. Operations have included Operation Allied Force over Kosovo in 1999, Operation Basilica over Sierra Leone in 2000 and Operation Telic over Iraq in 2003. In August 2004 it was announced that 6 Harriers will be deployed to Afghanistan in support of NATO forces.

No. 3 Sqn became the first operational front line squadron equipped with the Eurofighter Typhoon on March 31 2006. 3(F) Sqn is due to be declared operational in 2007. Its Harrier GR7s have now been passed to the Fleet Air Arm to be used by the recommissioned 800 Naval Air Squadron.

In 2007 No. 3 (F) Squadron will celebrate its 95th anniversary over the weekend of 11, 12 & 13 May at RAF Coningsby.

[edit] Previous Aircraft Operated

3 Squadron Typhoon F2
3 Squadron Typhoon F2

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Finn, C. J. et al (2004). Air Publication 3003 - A Brief History of the Royal Air Force. p. 331. HMSO.
Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon squadrons

Current: No. 3 Squadron RAF | No. 11 Squadron RAF

Future: No. 6 Squadron RAF

Other: No. 17(R) Squadron (Operational Evaluation Unit) | No. 29(R) Squadron (Operational Conversion Unit)