No. 29 Squadron RAF
Encyclopedia : N : NO : NO2 : No. 29 Squadron RAF
No. 29 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is the second UK squadron to receive the Eurofighter Typhoon. The squadron is the Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) for the Typhoon.
The squadron previously operated the English Electric Lightning until 1974 and the F-4 Phantom. A detachment was provided for the defence of the Falklands after the Falklands War following repairs to the airfield at Stanley. In 1987, 29 Sqn was one of the first units to receive the Tornado F3. It flew the Tornado until disbanding in 1998, as part of the Strategic Defence Review.
The first Typhoon T1 entered service with No. 17 Squadron in mid 2003. Both squadrons moved to RAF Coningsby in 2005, where No. 3 Squadron is to establish an initial operational capability by 2006/2007. Coningsby has received massive infrastructure upgrades prior to the type's arrival.
When the squadron number is written in roman numerals it is traditionally misspelled as XXX (30) rather than XXIX (29). Although the exact circumstances of how this originated are unclear, squadron tradition dates the practice to during the First World War or shortly after, and it is most often attributed to a mis-understood instruction to paint "2 X's in front of the roundel and 1 X behind it" meaning "XX(roundel)IX" but resulting in "XX(roundel)X". As with most such traditions, several minor variations on this story exist.
Typhoon squadrons
Operational
- No. XVII(R) Squadron (Operational Evaluation Unit) - RAF Coningsby
- No. 29(R) Squadron (Operation Conversion Unit) - RAF Coningsby
Future
- No. 3 Squadron RAF - Current Harrier GR7 squadron - Reforming at RAF Coningsby (Tranche 1)
- No. 11 Squadron RAF - Current Tornado F3 squadron - Reforming at RAF Leeming (Tranche 1)
- No. 6 Squadron RAF - Current Jaguar GR3 squadron - Reforming at RAF Leuchars (Tranche 2)
See also
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.