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No.120 Sqn RAF Founded : 1st January 1918
Endurance Officially formed at Cramlington near Newcastle on 1 January 1918, Number 120 Squadron was intended as reinforcement for the Independent Force in France, but was not declared operational by the time of the Armistice and so remained in a state of limbo until March 1919 when the unit was assigned to mail duties with DH9As. Initial runs to France were later supplemented by trips to Cologne, but by October 1919, the British presence on the Continent had reduced and the unit disbanded. The Squadron did not reform until 2 June 1941, this time based at Nutts Corner, Northern Ireland, and flying B-24 Liberators on anti-U-boat patrols over the Atlantic. The units first confirmed success was on 12 October 1942 when U-597 was sunk by depth charges. No 120 moved to Iceland in April 1943, operating from Meeks Field (later renamed Keflavik), and within six weeks of the move, a further four U-boats had been sunk. In March 1944, the Squadron returned to Northern Ireland and joined Coastal Command's massive anti-submarine efforts in support of Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings, and by the end of the war, No 120 was the RAF's highest scoring anti-submarine unit with 14 kills. Despite this record, the Squadron was disbanded on 4 June 1945 and not reformed again October 1946 when No 160 Squadron at Leuchars was renumbered. Initially equipped with Liberators, these gave way over the coming months to Lancaster anti-submarine variants and it was with this aircraft that the unit deployed to Palestine in November 1947 to search for illegal immigrants. In 1950, No 120 moved north Kinloss and prepared for the introduction of the new Shackletons, the being accomplished during 1951 followed by a move to Aldergrove the following year. The unit returned to Kinloss in 1959 and did not replace its Shackletons until 1971 when the far superior Nimrod arrived. These aircraft are pooled with those of the other Kinloss-based squadrons (Nos 201 and 206) and were used to great effect during Operation Corporate (Falklands) in 1982 and Operation Granby (Gulf) in 1991 |
No.120 Sqn RAF
No.120 Sqn RAF Artwork Collection |
Shackleton MR3, 120 Sqdn, Kinloss by Robin Smith. |
Aircraft for : No.120 Sqn RAF | |||
A list of all aircraft known to have been flown by No.120 Sqn RAF. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name. | |||
Squadron | Info | ||
Manufacturer : Avro Production Began : 1942 Retired : 1963 Number Built : 7377 | Lancaster The Avro Lancaster arose from the avro Manchester and the first prototype Lancaster was a converted Manchester with four engines. The Lancaster was first flown in January 1941, and started operations in March 1942. By March 1945 The Royal Air Force had 56 squadrons of Lancasters with the first squadron equipped being No.44 Squadron. During World War Two the Avro Lancaster flew 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Lancaster Bomberss took part in the devastating round-the-clock raids on Hamburg during Air Marshall Harris' Operation Gomorrah in July 1943. Just 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations, and the Lancaster was scrapped after the war in 1947. A few Lancasters were converted into tankers and the two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster and were used in the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties. A famous Lancaster bombing raid was the 1943 mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by 617 Squadron in modified Mk IIIs carrying special drum shaped bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. Also famous was a series of Lancaster attacks using Tallboy bombs against the German battleship Tirpitz, which first disabled and later sank the ship. The Lancaster bomber was the basis of the new Avro Lincoln bomber, initially known as the Lancaster IV and Lancaster V. (Becoming Lincoln B1 and B2 respectively.) Their Lancastrian airliner was also based on the Lancaster but was not very successful. Other developments were the Avro York and the successful Shackleton which continued in airborne early warning service up to 1992. | ||
Number Built : 18188 | Liberator Full profile not yet available. | ||
Manufacturer : Avro Production Began : 1951 | Shackleton The first prototype flew on 9th March 1949. The Shackleton was a development of the famous Avro Lancaster Bomber. and the Shackleton was designed for use for coastal Command. The First RAF squadrons to be equipped with the aircraft were NO. 120 squadron at Kinloss in 1951 followed by another 7 squadrons by 1953. The MR2 mark aircrafts began replacing the mK1's in 1954.. These aircraft saw long service with the last MR3 being retired in 1971 but a Airborne early warning variant joined no 8 squadron in January 1972. Crew: six to ten. Speed: 302 mph. range: 4215 at 200 mph at 1500 feet. Service ceiling 19,200 feet. Armament: two 20mm Hispano cannon in nose, two 20mm Hispano cannon in B.17 dorsal turret. Two .50in machine guns in tail |
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