No. 12 Squadron

No. 12 Squadron badge
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
Group
1 Group
Home station
RAF Wickenby

About

No. 12 Squadron went to war in 1939 flying the Fairey Battle light bomber as part of the Advanced Air Striking Force sent to France. It was there, in the desperate fighting of May 1940, that the squadron won an enduring place in RAF history. On 12 May a handful of its Battles were sent against the heavily defended bridges over the Albert Canal near Maastricht, across which German forces were pouring; in the face of intense fire the attack was driven home but most of the aircraft were lost.

The pilot of the leading aircraft, Flying Officer Donald Garland, and his navigator, Sergeant Thomas Gray, were each awarded the Victoria Cross — the first to airmen of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. After the fall of France the squadron returned to England, to RAF Finningley and then RAF Binbrook, re-equipped with the Vickers Wellington, and went on to serve through Bomber Command’s main offensive in No. 1 Group.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including RAF Museum — For Valour: Garland and Gray VCs and Wikipedia: No. 12 Squadron RAF. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

A Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.2B of No. 12 Squadron, Royal Air Force, performing a touch and go landing at the U.S. Navy Naval Weapons Center at China Lake, California (USA), during an air show of USN test and evaluation squadron VX-5 on 16 September 1981.
ⓘ licence & creditPhotographer's Name: D. Cornelius, USN / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BuccaneerSB2_12Sqn_ChinaLake1981.jpegView source & full licence →
A Tornado GR4 based at RAF Lossiemouth of 12 Squadron is shown in flight. *Organization: RAF *Object Name: CCT-08-113-UNC-OUT-0016 *Keywords: 12 Sqn, Tornado, GR4, 12 Squadron *Country: Scotland
ⓘ licence & creditCpl Graham Stewart / OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Tornado_of_12_Squadron_is_shown_in_flight._MOD_45147886.jpgView source & full licence →
A Tornado GR4 from 12 Squadron, RAF Lossiemouth soars high above the clouds over Scotland. *Organization: RAF *Object Name: CCT-08-113-UNC-OUT-0015 *Keywords: 12 Squadron, Tornado, GR4, Jet Aircraft *Country: Scotland
ⓘ licence & creditCpl Graham Stewart / OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Tornado_GR4_from_12_Squadron,_RAF_Lossiemouth_soars_high_above_the_clouds_over_Scotland_MOD_45147885.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : Fairey Fox aircraft of 12 Squadron, Royal Air Force from RAF Andover at RAF Hendon for the 1929 Royal Air Force Pageant.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:12_Squadron_RAF_Fairey_Foxes_Hendon_1929_IWM_H(AM)_162.jpgView source & full licence →
A 12 Squadron RAF Tornado GR4 taxis at Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan. 12 Sqn took over the close air support role in the Summer of 2009 from 1(F) Squadron Joint Force Harriers. *Organization: RAF *Object Name: MNT-09-062-OUT-UNC-049 *Keywords: 12 Squadron, Afghanistan, GR4, KAF, Kandahar, Middle East, Military, Op Herrick, Operations, Ops, RAF, RAF Regiment, Royal Air Force, Tornado, Herrick *Country: Afghanistan
ⓘ licence & creditSAC Neil Chapman / OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:12_Sqn_Tornado_at_Kandahar_Airfield_MOD_45150434.jpgView source & full licence →
A 12 Squadron RAF Tornado GR4 in Afghanistan is pictured getting ready for takeoff at Kandahar Airfield in Helmand, Afghanistan. 12 Squadron recently took over the close air support role from 1(F) Sqn Joint Force Harriers. *Organization: RAF *Object Name: MNT-09-062-OUT-UNC-050 *Keywords: 12 Squadron, Afghanistan, British Forces, GR4, KAF, Kandahar, Middle East, Military, Op Herrick, Operations, Ops, RAF, RAF Regiment, Royal Air Force, Tornado, UK Forces *Country: Afghanistan
ⓘ licence & creditSAC Neil Chapman / OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:12_Sqn_Tornado_at_Kandahar_Airfield_MOD_45150433.jpgView source & full licence →
{{En|A (RAF) of takes off from Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan. 12 Sqn took over the role in the Summer of 2009 from 1(F) Squadron Joint Force Harriers. *Organisation: (RAF) *Object name: MNT-09-062-OUT-UNC-049 *Keywords: 12 Squadron, Afghanistan, GR4, KAF, Kandahar, Middle East, military, Op Herrick, operations, Ops, RAF, RAF Regiment, Royal Air Force, Tornado, Herrick *Country: Afghanistan}}
ⓘ licence & creditSAC Neil Chapman / OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:12_Sqn_Tornado_at_Kandahar_Airfield_MOD_45150432.jpgView source & full licence →
CWGC gravestone of Flight Sergeant Ronald Charles Abbs in the churchyard of Holy Trinity parish church in the village of {{w|West Runton
ⓘ licence & creditKolforn (Kolforn) I'd appreciate if you could mail me (Kolforn@gmail.com) if you want to use this picture out of the Wikimedia project scope. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transView source & full licence →
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ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No._12_Squadron_RAF_badge.pngView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No._12_Squadron_RAF_badge.jpgView source & full licence →

Operations flown

Aircraft (4)

SerialCodeTypeFate
ME323 PH-P Avro Lancaster Lost on operations
ND562 PH-D Avro Lancaster Lost on operations
P2204 PH-K Fairey Battle Lost on operations
W5356 — Vickers Wellington Lost on operations

No service records linked to this squadron yet. Aircraft, crews and sorties will appear here soon.

Further reading & sources

External sites — facts only are reused here; their text and images remain their authors'.