No. 605 Squadron was formed as an Auxiliary Air Force Squadron. Initially formed as a bomber unit, it became a fighter squadron prior to the Second World War and was one of the most successful participants of the Battle of Britain. It also had the distinction of being active during the war on two fronts at the same time, when the squadron was split up between Malta and the Dutch East Indies. In its last incarnation as an active flying unit, the squadron served as the first jet fighter unit in the post-war Royal Auxiliary Air Force; 616 having already flown Gloster Meteors during the war. No. 605 Squadron was reformed as a RAuxAF Logistic Support Squadron (LSS) on 1 Nov 2014 within No. 85 Expeditionary Logistics Wing of the RAF A4 Force. On the 1 January 2019, the Reserve Logistic Support Wing (RLSW) was established with 501, 504 and 605 LSS Squadron's moving from No. 85 (Expeditionary Logistics) Wing RAF to form RLSW.

History

Formation and early years No. 605 Squadron was formed on 5 October 1926 at RAF Castle Bromwich as a day bomber unit of the Auxiliary Air Force, recruiting in the Birmingham area. Initially equipped with DH.9As, it received Westland Wapitis in April 1930 and Hawker Harts in October 1934. The latter were replaced by Hawker Hinds in August 1936. On 1 January 1939 No. 605 Squadron was re-designated as a fighter squadron and re-equipped with Gloster Gladiators.

Second World War

Hawker Hurricanes began to arrive a few weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War, and the squadron took up its war station at RAF Tangmere with a mixture of six Hurricanes and ten Gladiators, completing re-equipment during October 1939. In February 1940 the squadron moved to Scotland, but returned south in May to fly patrols over northern France for a week before moving back to Scotland at RAF Drem. It again moved south again in September for the closing stages of the Battle of Britain. It then continued to operate from bases in the south, carrying out escort duties and fighter sweeps until posted overseas.

Malta and the Far East In November 1941, the squadron were embarked on the aircraft carrier and taken via Gibraltar to a launch point near enough to Malta that they would be able to fly the remaining distance. See Club Run and Operation Perpetual. The squadron was then temporarily based at Malta in order to augment the island's defences, prior to elements of the squadron continuing their journey to the Far East. Arriving in Singapore too late to prevent its capture, the squadron moved to Sumatra and then to Java, in the event caught up in the Japanese invasion. It operated any aircraft it could fly until it ceased to exist with its personnel either escaping in small groups or being captured. In the meantime, the small detachment of the squadron that had been left on Malta during the transit journey to the Far East, began operations on 10 January 1942 using the 605 squadron number in its reports. This ended two months later when these detachments were absorbed into No. 185 Squadron RAF.

Reformation as night intruders A new No. 605 squadron was formed at RAF Ford on 7 June 1942, equipped with Douglas Boston and Havocs in the intruder role. These were replaced with de Havilland Mosquitos from February 1943 and it continued to operate this type until the end of the war. During this period, Peter Middleton, the grandfather of the Princess of Wales, was a pilot on the squadron. The squadron moved to Belgium in March 1945 and then the Netherlands in April. The squadron disbanded by being re-numbered to No. 4 Squadron RAF on 31 August 1945 at Volkel Air Base.

One of the squadron's Mosquitos FB.VI TA122 is now on permanent display at the de Havilland Aircraft Museum located in Hertfordshire.

After the war With the reactivation of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, No. 605 Squadron was reformed on 10 May 1946 at RAF Honiley as a night fighter squadron, though its initial equipment of Mosquito NF.30s did not arrive until April 1947. In July 1948 the squadron's role was changed to that of a day fighter squadron, for which it received de Havilland Vampire F.1s, replacing them with Vampire FB.5s in May 1951. A little short of six years later the squadron was disbanded, along with all the flying units of the RAuxAF, on 10 March 1957.

Present day

No. 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron was reformed as a RAF Reserve Logistics Support Squadron on 1 Nov 2014 within No. 85 Expeditionary Logistics Wing of the RAF A4 Force. Based at RAF Cosford, near Wolverhampton. The first reservist recruiting event was 30 May 2015, recruiting drivers, chefs, suppliers and police, which will be broken down as 112 part-time and 14 full-time posts.

605 Squadron currently deploys personnel onto RAF exercises and RAF operations across the world including recent deployments in 2022 and 2023 to The Falklands, Cyprus, The USA and The Middle East.

They were fully operational by May 2018 and as of 2023 are still recruiting Logisticians including Drivers, Suppliers, Police and Chefs.

Aircraft operated +Aircraft operated by no. 605 Squadron RAF, data from From To Aircraft Version October 1926 June 1930 Airco DH.9A April 1930 December 1934 Westland Wapiti Mk.IIa February 1934 August 1936 Hawker Hart August 1936 February 1939 Hawker Hind February 1939 October 1939 Gloster Gladiator Mks.I, II August 1939 December 1940 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I December 1940 August 1941 Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIa August 1941 March 1942 Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIb July 1942 October 1942 Douglas Havoc Mks.I, II July 1942 March 1943 Douglas Boston Mk.III February 1943 July 1943 de Havilland Mosquito Mk.II July 1943 August 1945 de Havilland Mosquito Mk.VI April 1947 January 1949 de Havilland Mosquito NF.30 July 1948 May 1951 de Havilland Vampire F.1 April 1951 March 1957 de Havilland Vampire FB.5

Squadron bases +Bases and airfields used by no. 605 Squadron RAF, data from From To Base Remark 5 October 1926 27 August 1939 RAF Castle Bromwich, England First formation 27 August 1939 11 Feb 1940 RAF Tangmere, Sussex, England 11 Feb 1940 27 Feb 1940 RAF Leuchars, Fife, Scotland 27 Feb 1940 21 May 1940 RAF Wick, Caithness, Scotland 21 May 1940 28 May 1940 RAF Hawkinge, Kent, England 28 May 1940 7 Sept 1940 RAF Drem, Lothian, Scotland 7 Sept 1940 26 Feb 1941 RAF Croydon, Surrey, England 26 Feb 1941 31 March 1941 RAF Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, England 31 March 1941 1 July 1941 RAF Tern Hill, Shropshire, England 1 July 1941 4 Sept 1941 RAF Baginton, Warwickshire, England 4 Sept 1941 31 October 1941 RAF Honiley, Warwickshire, England Left to Far East from here on HMS Argus 5 Nov 1941 12 Nov 1941 RAF Gibraltar to Malta via HMS Argus and HMS Ark Royal 12 Nov 1941 18 March 1942 RAF Hal Far, Malta Dets. at RAF Luqa and RAF Ta Kali. Absorbed into No. 185 Squadron c. January 1942* 2 Feb 1942 Singapore *arrived too late to prevent Fall of Singapore 3 Feb 1942 10 Feb 1942 Batavia, Dutch East Indies ad-hoc operations whilst pursued by advancing Japanese forces 10 Feb 1942 14 Feb 1942 Palembang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies 605 personnel join with Nos. 238 and 242 Squadron RAF on 14 Feb. 14 Feb 1942 Feb 1942 Tjililitan, Java, Dutch East Indies ad-hoc operations whilst pursued by advancing Japanese forces Feb 1942 March 1942 Tasik Malaya, Java, Dutch East Indies Dispersed from here, some ground personnel captured as POWs 7 June 1942 15 March 1943 RAF Ford, Sussex, England Second formation 15 March 1943 6 October 1943 RAF Castle Camps, Cambs, England 6 October 1943 7 April 1944 RAF Bradwell Bay, Essex, England 7 April 1944 21 Nov 1944 RAF Manston, Kent, England 21 Nov 1944 15 March 1945 RAF Hartford Bridge, Hampshire, England Airfield name changed to RAF Blackbushe, December 1944 15 March 1945 28 April 1945 B.71/Koksijde, Belgium 28 April 1945 31 August 1945 B.80/Volkel, the Netherlands 10 May 1946 11 March 1957 RAF Honiley, Warwickshire, England Third formation and last disbandment 1 Nov 2014 Present RAF Cosford, Shropshire, England Reformed as a Logistics Support Squadron

Honorary Air Commodores

Viscount Bearsted 1928–1937 William Lindsay Everard 1937–1947 J.A.C. Wright 1947–1957 Robert Nixon, CBE, DL 2026–present

Commanding Officers

Commanding Officers of 605 Squadron include:

From To Name October 1926 March 1936 S/Ldr. J.A.C. Wright, AFC, TD March 1936 December 1939 S/Ldr. Lord Willoughby de Broke, MC, AFC December 1939 May 1940 S/Ldr G.V. Perry May 1940 June 1940 F/Lt. R.G. Grant-Ferris, MP (acting) June 1940 September 1940 S/Ldr. W.M. Churchill, DSO, DFC September 1940 November 1940 S/Ldr. A.A. McKellar, DSO, DFC November 1940 November 1940 F/Lt. C.F. Currant, DFC (acting) November 1940 September 1941 S/Ldr. Gerald Edge, DFC February 1942 March 1942 S/Ldr. E.W. Wright, DFM (Batavia) June 1942 August 1942 W/Cdr. P.W. Townsend, DSO, DFC August 1942 May 1943 W/Cdr. G.L. Denholm, DFC May 1943 September 1943 W/Cdr. C.D Tomalin, AFC September 1943 April 1944 W/Cdr. B.R.O'B Hoare, DSO, DFC and Bar April 1944 September 1944 W/Cdr. N.J. Star, DFC September 1944 March 1945 W/Cdr. R.A.Mitchell, DFC and Bar March 1945 April 1945 S/Ldr. A.G.Woods, DFC (acting) April 1945 July 1945 W/Cdr. A.W. Horne, DFC, AFC July 1945 May 1946 S/Ldr. I.F.McCall, DFC (acting) May 1946 December 1947 S/Ldr. R.J. Walker, DSO December 1947 July 1949 S/Ldr. R.C.T. Goodwin July 1949 August 1951 S/Ldr. J.A. Timmis August 1951 May 1956 S/Ldr. P.M.R. Walton May 1956 March 1957 S/Ldr. R.E. Tickner March 1957 All RAuxAF units disbanded August 2014 Reformed as a Logistics Support and RAF Police Sqn August 2014 November 2015 Wg Cdr. M. Sherburn November 2015 January 2016 Sqn Ldr. T. Newton, (acting) January 2016 May 2019 Wg Cdr. P.N. Bell May 2019 July 2019 Wg Cdr. A.G. Kime (acting) July 2019 October 2021 Sqn Ldr. C.J. Krolikowski October 2021 June 2022 Flt Lt. M. Salt (acting) June 2022 Present Sqn Ldr J. A. Roylance

References

Notes

Bibliography

(reprinted in 1997)

External links

Official 605 Sqn page on the RAF Website Squadron histories for nos. 605–610 sqn on RAFweb Battle of Britain website page for 605 sqn Official 605 Sqn page on Facebook Mosquito FB Mk VI at the De Havilland Museum in the UK