Air Force Index

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

No. 79 (Madras Residency) Squadron, Royal Air Force  Hurricane Squadron  No. 79 Squadron was formed on the 1st August 1917 as a fighter unit, and served at the Western Front principally undertaking ground attack. It was part of the army of occupation in Germany where it was disbanded in 1919. In 1937, B Flight of No 32 Squadron at Biggin Hill became No 79 Squadron. It was still at Biggin Hill on the outbreak of war, equipped with the Hawker Hurricane. Airfields No. 79 Squadron flew from: RAF Biggin Hill until 12th November 1939 RAF Manston, Kent from 12th November 1939 to 8th March 1940 RAF Biggin Hill from 8th March to 11th May 1940 France (Mons-en-Chausee, Norrent, then Merville) from 11th May 1940 to 21st May 1940 RAF Biggin Hill from 21st May to 27th May 1940 RAF Digby, Lincolnshire from 27th May to 5th June 1940 RAF Biggin Hill from 5th June to 1st July 1940 RAF Hawkinge, Kent from 1st to 11th July 1040 RAF Sealand, Flintshire from 11th July 1940 RAF Acklington, Northumberland from 13th July to 27th August 1940 RAF Biggin Hill from 27th August to 8th September 1940 RAF Pembrey, Camarthenshire from 8th September 1940 to 14th June 1941 RAF Fairwood Common, Glamorganshire from 14th June to 24th September 1941 RAF Baginton, Warwickshire from 24th December 1941 to 4th March 1942 Kanchrapara (India)from June 1942 to January 1943: Dohazari January 1943: Ramu from January to May 1943: Comilla from May to July 1943: Ranchi from July to October 1943: Alipore from October to December 1943: Chittagong from December 1943 to January 1944: Dohazari from January to May 1944: Yelahanka from May to September 1944: Arkonam from September to October 1944: Manipur Road from October to November 1944: Wangjing from November 1944 to April 1945: Myingyang North (Burma) from April to June 1945: Meiktila from June to December 1945.  Hurricane Squadron October 1939 Training exercises 12th November 1939 On the move 21st November 1939  Dornier shot down 16th February 1940 Hurricane crashed 8th March 1940 Back to Biggin Hill 10th May 1940 To France 11th May 1940 Parachute escape 14th May 1940 Aircraft lost 17th May 1940 PoW 20th May 1940  Withdrawal from France 22nd May 1940 Return to Biggin Hill 27th May 1940 Rest and re-equip 5th June 1940 Back to Biggin Hill 27th June 1940 Two Hurricanes shot down 1st July 1940 On the move 13th July 1940 Northern patrols 15th Aug 1940 Eagle Day 15th Aug 1940 Eagle Day 27th August 1940 Back to the front line 28th August 1940 ` Battle of Britain 30th August 1940 Battle of Britain 31st August 1940  Battle of Britain 31st August 1940 Biggin Hill bombed 1st Sept 1940 Air battle over Kent 4th September 1940 Battle of Britain 5th September 1940 Battle of Britain 7th Sept 1940 Battle of Britain 8th September 1940 Move to South Wales March 1941 New title 19th May 1941 Congratulations 15 June 1941  New airfield 24th December 1941 Move 20th March 1942 Squadrons embarked for India 20th June 1942 Defensive patrols January 1943 On the offensive July 1943 Rest December 1943 Offensive role May 1944 Thunderbolts October 1944 Into Burma 3rd November 1944 Attack on airfield 11th December 1944 Airfields attacked 20th January 1945 Battle for Monya 27th January 1945 Japanese artillery silenced 8th February 1945 Aerial bombardment 20th March 1945 Empty fort attacked 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. 79 (Madras Residency) Squadron, Royal Air Force during the Second World War 1939-1945. Orr David John Longridge. T/Cpl. Reynolds Richard Willoughby. F/Lt. (d.11th Sept 1939) Stone . P/O. Wright John. Sgt. (d.5th Sep 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. 79 (Madras Residency) 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. 79 (Madras Residency) Squadron, Royal Air Force? There are:2044 items tagged No. 79 (Madras Residency) 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. T/Cpl. David John Longridge "Jock" Orr 232 Squadron During my father's time in the Far East he kept a diary of events through Signapore, Sumatra, Ceylon, India and Burma between November 1941 and September 1945. Ross Orr Add to this record. F/Lt. Richard Willoughby Reynolds 79 Sqn (d.11th Sept 1939) Richard Willoughby Reynolds is buried in our local churchyard. We are curious to know how he died. J.Boyce Add to this record. Sgt. John Wright 79 Squadron (d.5th Sep 1940) Sgt.Wright joined 79 Sqdn in July 1940 at Acklington. The squadron was posted to Biggin Hill on the 28th August 1940. At 1315 hrs on 4th Sept 1940 with Plt.Off.D.Stones DFC, (leading Blue Section) they made a head on attack against a formation of 20+ Me 110s approx 10 miles inland from Beachy head, on a northerly heading. Stones records a direct hit on one ME 110 and then chases the others. At 1325hrs Stones is in the area of Biggin Hiil - lands to refuel and rearm. At the same time, Sgt. John Wright is attempting an emergency landing in a sportsfield at Tolworth - 9 miles west of Biggin Hill. He aborts because children are playing. 2 mins later he crashes at the end of a cul-de-sac - Wentworth Close, Ditton Hill. There were no civilian casualties on the ground. Sgt Wright was pulled from the wreckage of his Hurricane but died from his injuries the next day. The Hurricane certainly had 'engine damage' before the crash. It is assummed that he was 'shot up' by one of the Me 110s as they forced their way north. He must have 'headed' on a fast descent - on a north westerley course to 'escape' - taking him to Tolworth where he was probably lost? Reports suggest that Sgt. Wright was wounded before the crash, but I have been unable to confirm this. It was a brave decision to abort the landing at Tolworth with a damaged aircraft which only stayed airborne for another couple of minutes. But it may have saved the lives of several children Ironically the assumption made was that Sgt. Wright was part of the squadron attacking another raid on Brooklands (7 miles west) at the same time. But that squadron was No 253 from Kenley. David Morgan Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

Links Suggest a link

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites, books, magazines or any other forms of media.