Air Force Index

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No . 4 Squadron Royal Air Force  Experimental role  No. 4 Squadron was formed at Farnborough on 16 September 1912, the last squadron to come into existence prior to the outbreak of The Great War. Although designated initially for home defence, it was swiftly re-assigned to France, departing England on the 13th August 1914. At first it undertook a reconnaissance role, but it also undertook a number of operational experiments including wireless communications, night flying, aerial photography, air-to-ground attack and the use of aircraft to land agents behind enemy lines. No. 4 Squadron continued to fly reconnaissance missions after the Great War Armistice until it was withdrawn to RAF Northolt on 13 February 1919 and disbanded. The Squadron reformed on 30 April 1920 at Farnborough and part of the squadron soon saw service in the Irish War of Independence between November 1920 and January 1922. It was then deployed to Turkey during the Chanak crisis in August 1922, travelling in crates from Southampton aboard HMS Ark Royal and then reassembled and flying from the flight deck of HMS Argus to an airbase at Kilya. The threat of hostilities did not materialise and they returned to Farnborough in September 1923. During the 1926 General Strike, No. 4 Squadron's was relocated temporarily to RAF Turnhouse (Edinburgh) to patrol railway lines to deter feared sabotage. No.4 Squadron was also engaged in testing prototypes offered for reconnaissance duties including an evaluation of the experimental Avro Rota autogyro. Although a qualified success, the Rota autogyro was not accepted for service in the RAF in any numbers. In January 1939 teh Squadron was at RAF Odiham when the autogyros were replaced by a new monoplane intended primarily for artillery cooperation and reconnaissance, the Westland Lysander. Airfields at which No.4 Squadron was based during WW2: 16 February 1937-24 September 1939: Odiham 24 September-3 October 1939: Mons-en-Chaussée, France 3 October-16 May 1940: Monchy-Lagache 16-21 May 1940: Lille/ Ronchin 21-24 May 1940: Clairmarais 22-25 May 1940: Detachment to Detling 24-25 May 1940: Hawkinge, England 24 May-8 June 1940: Ringway 8 June 1940-27 August 1941: Linton-on-Ouse 27 August 1941-1 March 1943: Clifton 1-5 March 1943: Barford St. John 5-8 March 1943: Cranfield 8-12 March 1943: Duxford 12-20 March 1943: Clifton 20 March-16 July 1943: Bottisham 16 July-7 August 1943: Gravesend 7 August-15 September 1943: Odiham 15 September-6 October 1943: Funtington 6 October-15 November 1943: Odiham 15-30 November 1943: North Weald 30 November 1443-3 January 1944: Sawbridgworth 3 January-3 March 1944: Aston Down 3 March-4 April 1944: Sawbridgworth 4 April-27 June 1944: Gatwick 27 June-16 August 1944: Odiham 16 August-2 September 1944: B.4 Beny-sur-Mer, France 2-5 September 1944: B.27 Boisney 5-11 September 1944: B.31 Fresney Folney 11-27 September 1944: B.43: Fort Rouge 27 September-11 October 1944: B.61 St. Denis Westrem 11 October-23 November 1944: B.70 Deurne 23 November-9 March 1945: B.77 Gilze-Rijen, Belgium 9 March-17 April 1945: B.89 Mill 17 April-30 May 1945: B.106 Twente 30 May 1945 31st August 1945: Celle, Germany. Disbanded  Experimental role 24th September 1939 Deployment to France 10th May 1940 German invasion of Belgium 28th May 1940 Aircraft Arrive 7th June 1940 Coastal patrols 28th July 1940  Air-Sea Rescue 27th Aug 1940 Training 4th Jun 1941 Aircraft Lost November 1941 New aircraft 28th May 1942 Air Raid 13th Oct 1942 Patrols 28th February 1943 Relocated for Exercise Spartan 1st March 1943 Exercise Spartan 2nd March 1943 Exercise Spartan 2nd March 1943 Exercise Spartan 3rd March 1943 Exercise Spartan 3rd March 1943 Exercise Spartan briefings 4th March 1943 Exercise Spartan begins 5th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 5th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 6th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 7th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 8th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 9th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 9th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 10th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 10th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 11th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 11th March 1943 Exercise Spartan 12th March 1943 Exercise Spartan ended 13th March 1943 Return to base 19th Mar 1943 Operations 15th July 1943 Move 14th Nov 1943 Moves 1st Jan 1944 Change of Duty 5th March 1944 Move 4th Apr 1944 Preparations 20th May 1944 Final Mosquito duty 6th Jun 1944 In Support 6th June 1944 Invasion 12th June 1944 Doodlebugs 16th Aug 1944 Reconnaissance 25th Aug 1944 A Strange Sight 1st October 1944 Change of Duty 10th Oct 1944 Airbase attacked 1st Feb 1945 Change of Duty 9th Mar 1945 Advance 16th Apr 1945 On the Move 28th May 1945 On the Move 31st August 1945 Aerial maps 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 . 4 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War 1939-1945. Drapper Roy. F/Lt. Fletcher James H . Sgt (d.16th July 1940 ) Harris Richard W . P/O (d.7th Oct 1940) Harvey Marcus R . Sgt (d.7th Oct 1940) Jefferson. Guy . Kershaw John . F/O (d.16th July 1940) 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 . 4 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 25 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. 16th Jan 2025 - 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 265273 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 FAQs 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. 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. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about No . 4 Squadron Royal Air Force? There are:2049 items tagged No . 4 Squadron Royal Air Force available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. F/Lt. Roy Drapper 4 Sqd. My husband Roy Drapper was killed in 1944 when his Spitfire crashed and he bailed out after avoiding a town and was too late for the chute to open. I just know he was a PRU pilot in No 4 Squadron. Headquarters 35 Wing. Betty Blower Add to this record. 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