No. 55 Squadron RAF

No. 55 Squadron RAF
Squadron badge
Squadron badge
Active27 April 1917 – 1 April 1918 (RFC)
1 April 1918 – 22 January 1920 (RAF)
1 February 1920 – 1 November 1946
1 September 1960 – 15 October 1993
15 October 1993 – 31 March 1996
1 November 1996 – 20 January 2011
CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Branch Royal Air Force
TypeFlying squadron
Motto(s)Latin: Nil nos tremefacit
(Nothing shakes us)[1][2]
Battle honours
  • Western Front (1917–1918)*
  • Arras
  • Ypres (1917)*
  • Independent Force and Germany (1918)*
  • Iraq (1920)
  • Kurdistan (1922–1924)
  • Iraq (1928–1929)
  • Kurdistan (1930–1931)
  • Northern Kurdistan (1932)
  • Egypt and Libya (1940–1943)*
  • El Alamein*
  • El Hamma*
  • North Africa (1943)
  • Sicily (1943)
  • Salerno
  • Italy (1943–1945)
  • Gustav Line
  • Gothic Line
  • South Atlantic (1982)
  • Gulf (1991)*
*Honours marked with an asterisk may be emblazoned on the Squadron Standard[1]
Insignia
Squadron badge heraldryA cubit arm, the arm grasping a spear

Number 55 Squadron was a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF). First formed in April 1917, the squadron saw action on the Western Front during the First World War. Based in the Middle East during the interwar period and the Second World War, No. 55 Squadron saw action over Iraq, Egypt, Libya and Italy. Between 1960 and 1993, the unit flew the Handley Page Victor. Initially on the Victor B.1A before becoming a tanker squadron in 1965 with the Victor B(K).1A/K.1/K.1A before converting to the Victor K.2 in 1975. Disbanding in October 1993, No. 55 Squadron were the last RAF unit to operate the Victor. Between 1996 and 2011, No. 55(Reserve) Squadron operated the Hawker Siddeley Dominie T.1 from RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, helping to train navigators for the RAF.[3]

  1. ^ a b "55 Squadron". Royal Air Force. Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  2. ^ Pine, L.G. (1983). A dictionary of mottoes (1 ed.). London, England: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 151. ISBN 0-7100-9339-X.
  3. ^ "Farewell flypast for RAF's Hawker Siddeley". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 20 January 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2011.