From Biplanes to Typhoons: The Remarkable Century of No. 29 Squadron
WHILE the Red Arrows is among the most famous aerobatic teams in the world, the RAF also has a Typhoon Display Team which recently revealed a newly-painted design to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
RAF Coningsby Station Sign Available to Purchase Here
One of the Typhoon aircraft of No. 29 Squadron underwent a 1944-style rebrand, painted as a ‘Day Fighter’ of the WWII era, resembling the design of the Hawker Typhoons of 257 Squadron, – a far cry from their modern-day namesakes – complete with the RAF Tactical Recognition Flash.
The display aircraft ZJ913 was seen at airshows across the UK, piloted by Flt Lt Jeff Turnbull of 29 Squadron, the unit that was the second to receive the Typhoon in 2003, operating as the aircraft’s Operational Conversion Unit (OCU).
No. 29 is one of the world’s oldest fighter squadrons, formed on November 7, 1915 at Gosport in Hampshire as part of what was then the Royal Flying Corps, RFC, the precursor of the RAF; beginning life as a reserve squadron, the unit was initially equipped with Royal Aircraft Factory BE2cs – the biplane that had entered service with the RFC in 1912.
It was early the following year that No. 29 became the fourth squadron to operate the Airco DH2 fighters, heading over to France on March 25, 1916 with their new aircraft. The efforts of units including No. 29 helped the Allies gain air superiority during 1916, but later in the year new German fighter aircraft were introduced which were superior to the DH2s.
In March 1917, the squadron’s DH2s were jettisoned and they were now flying Nieuport 17s, a French seaplane which was retained for 13 months until April 1918 when they were replaced with Royal Aircraft Factory SE5as.
It was during WWI that the squadron’s badge became XXX rather than XXIX, according to one of the many stories about the ‘incorrect’ use of 30 in Roman numerals to denote the squadron. One of the most common tales is that an officer told an airman to paint the squadron number on an aircraft in Roman numerals, and during the conversation explaining the instruction to the ‘underling’, whose Roman numerals’ knowledge wasn’t the best, the description the painter understood for XXIX was for ‘two XXs followed by one X’, hence XX, and one X.
No matter how it happened, the triple XXX moniker stuck, and No. 29 spent a period as part of the army of occupation following the end of WWI, eventually returning to the UK in August 1919, before disbanding on December 31 of that year – its World War One record seeing 385 victories claimed.
A line-up of 29 Squadron Siskins, in the late 1920s.
After a three-and-a-half-year hiatus, the squadron was reformed on April 1, 1923, five years to the day after the RAF was founded, this time operating Sopwith Snipes, replaced by Gloster Grebes in January 1925. Unlike many squadrons, No. 29 remained active for most of the inter-war period, flying a variety of aircraft and taking part in a number of operations, including flying out of Egypt during the Abyssinian crisis in the mid-1930s when Italy invaded Ethiopia.
In December 1938, as tensions grew across Europe, the RAF’s modernisation programme saw the squadron receive Bristol Blenheim I-F heavy fighters, the aircraft used for daytime operations at the beginning of WWII, particularly on convoy protection duties. The unit switched to become a night fighter squadron in June 1940, later that year beginning the transfer to operating the Bristol Beaufighter, the squadron becoming fully equipped with the new fighter early in 1941.
The squadron spent two years flying the Beaufighter before making the switch to the de Havilland Mosquito, and during the Second World War, the unit flew from a range of airfields across Britain stretching from Drem in East Lothian down to Manston in Kent; their role was mainly in defensive duties but the Mosquitos of No. 29 began to be used on intruder missions towards the end of WWII, and by the end of hostilities, the squadron was based at West Malling in Kent as a peacetime night-fighter force.
Post war, the unit continued to operate Mosquitos until the early 1950s when they were replaced by Gloster Meteor NF11s, by which time the squadron was based at Tangmere in Sussex. A move north followed in November 1957 with No. 29 relocating to RAF Acklington, an aircraft switch to Gloster Javelins accompanying the transfer to Northumberland, six months later the unit crossing the border to make RAF Leuchars their new home, still operating Javelins.
29 Squadron F4 Phantom at Greenham Common, 23 July 1983 - 📸 Rob Schleiffert
In May 1967 the squadron was re-equipped with the English Electric Lightning, now based at RAF Wattisham in Suffolk, before a move to RAF Coningsby in 1974 when No. 29 became a McDonnell F-4 Phantom Squadron; during the Falklands War in 1982, a detachment of the squadron’s Phantoms were deployed to RAF Wideawake on Ascension Island on defensive duties, operating as a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) force.
Later in 1982, after the Argentinian surrender and when the runway at Port Stanley had been repaired, ten of No. 29’s Phantoms were deployed to the Falklands, taking over QRA duties from Harriers who had been able to utilise their vertical take-off and landing capabilities, so were less demanding of a fully-functioning airstrip.
The 13-year association with the Phantom ended in 1987 when No. 29 became the second squadron to operate the Tornado, an aircraft the unit would fly during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 – the first Gulf War that ended when Iraqi forces were removed from their occupation of Kuwait. No. 29 Squadron continued flying the Tornado for seven years after the first Gulf War, the unit disbanding in 1998 as part of a Strategic Defence Review, October 31 seeing the squadron’s standard laid up at Cranwell.
It would be a six-year wait before No. 29 reformed, this time back at Coningsby in 2003 as the Typhoon OCU, a role it has continued to carry out to this day.
