No. 49 Squadron RAF

No. 49 Squadron RAF
No. 49 Squadron badge
Active15 Apr 1916 – 18 July 1919,
10 Feb 1936 - 1 Aug 1955
1 May 1956 – 1 May 1965
CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Branch Royal Air Force
Motto(s)Latin: Cave canem
("Beware of the Dog")[1]
Battle honoursWestern Front, 1917-18*: Cambrai, 1917*: Somme, 1918*: Channel & North Sea, 1939-40: France & Low Countries, 1940: Invasion Ports, 1940: German Ports 1940 -45*: Ruhr, 1940 - 45*: Fortress Europe, 1940 -44*: Berlin, 1943-44*: Italy, 1943-44: Biscay Ports, 1943: Normandy, 1944: France & Germany, 1944-45*: Walcheren: Rhine: Honours marked with an asterisk are those emblazoned on the Squadron Standard
Insignia
Squadron badge heraldryA greyhound courant.[2] The greyhound is indicative of speed.
Squadron codesXU Apr 1939 - Sep 1939
EA Sep 1939 - Apr 1951

No. 49 Squadron was a bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force from 1938 to 1965. They were the first squadron to receive the Hampden in September 1938.

The unit achieved fame through the Victoria Cross awarded to Rod Learoyd in 1940[3] and for its role in the British atomic and hydrogen bomb programmes. During Operation Buffalo in 1956, a Vickers Valiant from the squadron became the first British aircraft to drop a live atomic bomb.[4][5] A year later, the squadron was entrusted with the task of dropping hydrogen bombs in Operation Grapple.[6]

  1. ^ Pine, L G (1983). A Dictionary of Mottoes. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 31. ISBN 0-7100-9339-X.
  2. ^ Poulsen, C M, ed. (2 September 1937). "RAF Unit Badges". Flight International. 32 (1, 497): 235. ISSN 0015-3710.
  3. ^ Brazier, Kevin (2010). The Complete Victoria Cross. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. p. 305. ISBN 978 1 84884 150 5.
  4. ^ Wynn 1997, pp. 170–173.
  5. ^ "No. 40960". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 28 December 1956. p. 36.
  6. ^ "Christmas Island H-bomb controversy". BBC Inside Out. BBC. 7 November 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2016.