No. 47 Squadron

No. 47 Squadron RAF was formed on 1 March 1916 and had been based at Khartoum in the Sudan for over a decade when the Second World War began, flying Vickers Wellesleys. When Italy entered the war in June 1940 the squadron flew bombing raids against Italian forces in Eritrea and Ethiopia, contributing to the eventual Allied victory in the East African campaign. In late 1941 the unit moved north into Egypt, where it took on anti-submarine patrols and then converted to Bristol Beaufort torpedo bombers for anti-shipping strikes in the Mediterranean — a role it continued with Bristol Beaufighters from 1942 as it operated along the North African and Tunisian coasts. The squadron transferred to India in March 1944 and joined the air offensive in Burma, initially struggling with the unsuitability of the de Havilland Mosquito in the tropical climate before reverting briefly to rocket-armed Beaufighters. By early 1945 it was flying both types in support of General Slim’s Fourteenth Army, striking Japanese supply lines, airfields and transport targets ahead of the advance on Mandalay and Rangoon, and had fully re-equipped with Mosquitoes by April 1945. The squadron disbanded at Butterworth on 21 March 1946; its motto, “Nili nomen roboris omen” — “The name of the Nile is an omen of our strength” — reflects the long association with Sudan that predated the war.