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No.79 Sqn RAF
Founded : 1st August 1917
Country : UK
Fate : Disbanded (renumbered) 1st January 1962
Known Aircraft Codes : AL, NV
Madras Presidency
Nil nobis obstare potest - Nothing can stop us
Formed at Gosport on the 1st of August 1917, No.79 Squadron was moved to France in December 1917 and equipped with Dolphins which carried out fighter patrols and ground attack missions until the end of the war. After the Armistice 79 Squadron was stationed in Germany as part of the occupation forces, and on the 15 of July 1919, the squadron was disbanded.
79 Squadron was reformed on 22nd March 1937 at Biggin Hill, being formed from B Flight of No.32 Squadron. Initially the squadron was equipped with Gauntlets until the end of 1938 when they were replaced with Hawker Hurricanes. When World War Two broke out, 79 Squadrons role was to fly defensive patrols until May 1940 when 79 Squadron was sent to France for only a short period of 10 days. The Squadron took part in the Battle of Britain and after the Battle of Britain the squadron moved to South Wales until the end of 1941. 79 Squadron was sent to the Far East on 4th March 1942 arriving in India on 20th June. Between May 1944, and September 1944 No.79 was withdrawn from active service to be re-equipped with Thunderbolts and after the war the squadron was disbanded on 30th December 1945.
No.79 was reformed for a ten year period on 15th November 1951 at Gutersloh initially flying the Meteor jet fighter but being re-equipped with the new Swift and being used in the role of a fighter-reconnaissance unit. On the 1st of January No.79 squadron was renumbered 4 Squadron.
No.79 Sqn RAF
  One on the Run by Ivan Berryman. (P) |   Revenge of the Raider by Ivan Berryman. (P) |   A Hasty Exit by Ivan Berryman. (P) |   Tribute to F/Lt Owen Tracey by Ivan Berryman. (P) |
No.79 Sqn RAF Artwork Collection |
Tribute to F/Lt Owen Tracey by Ivan Berryman. | A Hasty Exit by Ivan Berryman. | Revenge of the Raider by Ivan Berryman. |
One on the Run by Ivan Berryman. |   Churchills Few by David Pritchard |
| Aces for : No.79 Sqn RAF | ||
| A list of all Aces from our database who are known to have flown with this squadron. A profile page is available by clicking the pilots name. | ||
| Name | Victories | Info |
| Owen Vincent Tracey | 6.00 | |
| No.79 Sqn RAF Aircraft details |
 Hurricane Manufacturer : Hawker Built : 14533 | Hurricane Royal Air Force Fighter, the Hawker Hurricane had a top speed of 320mph, at 18,200 feet and 340mph at 17,500, ceiling of 34,200 and a range of 935 miles. The Hurricane was armed with eight fixed wing mounted .303 browning machine guns in the Mark I and twelve .303 browning's in the MKIIB in the Hurricane MKIIC it had four 20mm cannon. All time classic fighter the Hurricane was designed in 1933-1934, the first prototype flew in June 1936 and a contract for 600 for the Royal Air Force was placed. The first production model flew ion the 12th October 1937 and 111 squadron of the Royal Air Force received the first Hurricanes in January 1938. By the outbreak of World war two the Royal Air Force had 18 operational squadrons of Hurricanes. During the Battle of Britain a total of 1715 Hurricanes took part, (which was more than the rest of the aircraft of the Royal air force put together) and almost 75% of the Victories during the Battle of Britain went to hurricane pilots. The Hawker Hurricane was used in all theatres during World war two, and in many roles. in total 14,533 Hurricanes were built. |
 Thunderbolt Built : 15683 | Thunderbolt Alexander Kartveli was a engineer with Seversky Aircraft who designed the P-35, which first flew in 1937. With Republic Aviation Kartveli supervised the development of the P-43 Lancer. Neither of these aircraft were produced in large numbers, and neither was quite successful. However, the Republic Aviation P-47 Thunderbolt, also nicknamed the Jug, was quite a different story. The Jug was the jewel in Kartvelis design crown, and went on to become one of the most produced fighter aircraft of all time with 15,683 being manufactured. The P-47 was the largest and heaviest single seat fighter of WW II. The P-47 immediately demonstrated its excellent combat qualities, including speed, rate of climb, maneuverability, heavy fire power, and the ability to take a lot of punishment. With a wingspan of more than 40 feet and a weight of 19,400 pounds, this large aircraft was designed around the powerful 2000 HP Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine. The first P-47 prototype flew in May of 1941, and the primary variant the P-47D went into service in 1943 with units of the U.S. Armys Eighth Air Force. The Jug had a maximum speed in excess of 400 MPH, a service ceiling in excess of 42,000 feet, and was heavily armed with either six or eight heavy caliber machine guns. With its ability to carry up to a 2,500 pound bomb load, the Jug saw lots of use in ground attack roles. Until the introduction of the N model, the P-47 lacked the long range required for fighter escort missions which were most often relegated to P-51 Mustangs or P-38 Lightnings. In his outstanding painting entitled Bridge Busting Jugs, noted aviation artist Stan Stokes depicts Eighth Air Force Jugs in a ground attack mission in the Alps in June of 1944. The top P-47 ace was Francis Gabreski who had flown with the 56th Fighter Group, the first unit to be equipped with the P-47. In August of 1943 Gabreski attained his first aerial combat victory (over an Fw-190) and by years end he had reached ace status with 8 confirmed victories. As Commander of the 61st Squadron, Gabreski continued to chalk up victory after victory, and on seven different occasions he achieved two victories during the same mission. However, in July of 1944 Gabreski damaged the prop on his Jug during a low level attack on an airfield near Coblenz. Forced to make a crash landing, he was captured and remained a prisoner of war until Wars end in 1945. Following the War Gabreski returned to military service with the Air Forces 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing in Korea. Flying the F-86 Sabre Jet, Gabreski attained 6.5 more aerial victories in 1951 and 1952 becoming an ace in two different wars |
| No.79 Sqn RAF Pilot and aircrew signature details |
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