No. 47 Squadron RAF

No. 47 Squadron RAF
Squadron badge
Active1 March 1916 – 1 April 1918 (RFC)
1 April 1918 – 7 October 1919 (RAF)
1 February 1920 – 21 March 1946
1 September 1946 – 31 October 1967
25 February 1968 – 21 September 2023
CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Branch Royal Air Force
TypeFlying squadron
Motto(s)Nili nomen roboris omen
(Latin for 'The name of the Nile is an omen of our strength')[1]
Battle honours * Honours marked with an asterisk may be emblazoned on the Squadron Standard[2]
Insignia
Squadron badge heraldryIn front of a fountain, a demoiselle crane's head erased. The unofficial badge had been a sun rising over a pyramid, but tours in Russia and Sudan inspired the use of a crane (found in both countries) which, when navigating, flies high like a bomber. The fountain commemorates the amphibious role when seaplanes were flown off the River Nile. Approved by King George VI in November 1938.
Squadron CodesEW (Apr 1939 – Sep 1939)
KU (Sep 1939 – Sep 1942) (Feb 1945 – Mar 1946)
Fairey IIIFs of 47 Squadron on the Blue Nile at Khartoum in 1930

Number 47 Squadron is an inactive squadron of the Royal Air Force. Previously based at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, it last operated the Lockheed Martin Hercules C4/C5 between 2013 and 2023. It previously flew the Lockheed Hercules C.1/C.3 between 1968 and 2013.

  1. ^ Pine (1983), p. 151
  2. ^ "47 Squadron". Royal Air Force. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2010.