No. 615 Squadron — County of Surrey

No. 615 (County of Surrey) Squadron was formed at RAF Kenley on 1 June 1937 as part of the Auxiliary Air Force, initially tasked with army co-operation duties and equipped with the Hawker Audax and later the Hawker Hector. In November 1938 the unit converted to the fighter role, working up on Gloster Gauntlets and then Gladiators, and in April 1939 Winston Churchill accepted the appointment of Honorary Air Commodore — a connection that earned the squadron its enduring nickname “Churchill’s Own.” The squadron deployed to France in November 1939 as part of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force, flew Hurricanes through the Battle of Britain as part of No. 11 Group, Fighter Command, and subsequently carried out offensive sweeps over occupied Europe and defensive duties from airfields in Scotland and Wales. In April 1942 it transferred to the South-East Asian theatre, fighting in the Burma campaign under Eastern Air Command, and re-equipped with Spitfire VCs and VIIIs before briefly taking on Republic Thunderbolts in 1945. The wartime squadron was disbanded on 10 June 1945, though the number plate was kept alive briefly by the renaming of No. 135 Squadron before that unit too stood down in September 1945; the Royal Auxiliary Air Force reformed 615 Squadron at Biggin Hill in 1946, and it flew jets until its final disbandment on 10 March 1957.