Which squadron flew the most types?

[Norman D. Landings]

24 squadron's got to be in with a shout:

http://www.rafweb.org/Squadrons/Sqn%20M ... ark024.htm

[grizzlymc]

Just what I was about to post.

[RMD]

Yeah, that site's sucked me in.
5 squadron, though... started the war in Wapitis.
Hawker Harts in 1940... Audaxes in 1941!
After that things get more reasonable, Mohawks '42, Hurricanes 43, Thunderbolts '44.
Fortunately they were stuck on the North West frontier for the duration combating the anti_aircraft jezzail threat.

That's not quite true. 5 Sqn were moved to Dinjan in Assam in early 1942, to provide local air defence for the USAAF as the Japanese got closer. They still had some Audaxes at the time, but were converting to Mohawk. They were in action against the Japanese from then on, only withdrawing briefly to convert to Hurricane IIc and then Thunderbolt. They moved to Argatala in 1943, being grouped within 169 Wing alongside 155 Sqn who also had Mohawk, as well as 681 Sqn (aka 3 PRU). After conversion to Hurricane IIc in June 1943 they moved to 168 Wing at Digri, which was mostly geared toward CAS (Vengeance & Hurricane, as well as a sqn each of Liberator and Beaufighter). By December 1943 they were with 170 Wing at Imphal. By July 1944 they had been withdrawn to Bangalore. By December 1944 they were at Nazir, converting to Thunderbolt, though were soon sent to 905 Wing, which was an all-Thunderbolt CAS wing in Burma.

[RMD]

24 squadron's got to be in with a shout:

http://www.rafweb.org/Squadrons/Sqn%20M ... ark024.htm

That looks like a likely winner. They were a 'jack-of-all-trades' squadron, running coastal patrols, transport, liaison, training, target-tugging... Even got a Messerschmidt on the books!

[RMD]

BTW, Wapitis and Audaxes saw action against the Japanese in Burma circa 1942, when they were still being used by the Coastal Defence Flights. Somewhat astonishingly, one Wapiti shot down a 'Nate' fighter and they didn't suffer any losses before being rapidly replaced with Blenheim Is.

[grizzlymc]

A Blenheim would seem like a masterpiece of aluminium wonder after a Wapiti. Someone was flying Virginnias until the dawn of war. Imagine how you would feel during the Munich crisis knowing you were going to be attacking the hun with an outsize Vimy.

[Slugbalancer]

Jeez slug, I am going to sped months on that bloody site.

I did spend a long time on this site, at work. During my lunchbreak of course.
When I started painting my collection of small aircraft, I wanted to make sure that they not only had the correct paint scheme but also they had the right markings.

It did help to explain why my father-in-law worked on Walrus & Spitfires, he was in an Air Sea Rescue squadron. Puzzled me when he told me the aircraft but he wouldn't elaborate.

[Norman D. Landings]

Loads of types that are new to me. Albermarle, Warwick, Parnall Panther. Its fascinating.

[grizzlymc]

Shame the Brits never got a decent radial. The Warwick would have been handy in 1939. As for the Albermarle, it's on the same list as the Whitely and a couple of other twins in service in hostilities.

[RMD]

The Albermarle was probably the main British paratroop-dropper in Normandy, with Whitleys a close second. Thanks to Hollywood everyone thinks it was all Dakotas...

Re Walrus; I'm just about to head off to a pub that was a Fleet Air Arm training unit equipped with Walrus (the Lawrenny Arms - a few miles upriver from the huge flying boat base at Pembroke dock). There are some nice aerial photos on the pub wall, showing Waluses (Walrii?) dotted around the site. They also had some Vought Kingfishers, but the FAA student pilots apparently crashed every last Kingfisher the FAA owned.