First World War (1915–1919) No. 11 Squadron of the
Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was formed at
Netheravon in
Wiltshire on 14 February 1915 for "fighting duties", receiving two-seat
pusher Vickers F.B.5 Gunbus fighters in June, and deploying to France on 25 July 1915. It was the first squadron solely equipped with fighters to deploy with the RFC, or with any flying service. , France, 19 December 1917. The aircraft on the right is a
Bristol Fighter (thought to belong to No. 11 Squadron) and on the left is a
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 The squadron's Gunbusses were soon pressed into service, with
Captain Lionel Rees claiming the squadron's first air-to-air victory on 28 July, forcing down a German observation aircraft. The Gunbus was already obsolete however, and was initially supplemented by a mixture of
Bristol Scouts and
Nieuport 16s until replaced in June 1916 by the
Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b of similar layout, but slightly higher performance. These in turn were replaced by
Bristol F.2 Fighters in August 1917, these being used both for offensive patrols over German-held territory and for ground attack for the remainder of the war. The squadron was disbanded at the end of 1919. The squadron had nineteen
flying aces in its ranks during the war. Among them were Victoria Cross winner
Lionel Rees, as well as
Andrew Edward McKeever,
John Stanley Chick,
Eugene Coler,
Albert Ball VC,
Frederick Libby,
Ronald Maudit,
John Quested,
Herbert Sellars,
Donald Beard,
Stephen Price and
Hugh Hay Thomas Frederick Stephenson.
Between the wars (1918–1938) No. 11 Squadron reformed at
RAF Andover in Hampshire in January 1923 as a day bomber squadron equipped with the
Airco DH.9A, soon moving to
RAF Bircham Newton in
Norfolk. In April 1924, the DH.9A was replaced by the
Fairey Fawn, despite the fact that they offered little improvement in performance over the DH.9A, moving with them to
RAF Netheravon in May that year. The unpopular Fawns were replaced by the
Hawker Horsley in November 1926, in use until December 1928, when the squadron handed the Horsleys to
No. 100 Squadron. The squadron was posted to
Risalpur in India (now in Pakistan), flying
Westland Wapitis in the army co-operation role and carried out punitive air raids against rebelling tribal forces. The Wapiti was replaced with the
Hawker Hart in February 1932, operations continuing as before.
Second World War (1939–1945) of No. 11 Squadron takes off from
Colombo's racecourse in
Ceylon during the
Second World War|left No. 11 Squadron received
Bristol Blenheim Mk.I monoplane bombers in July 1939, moving to
Singapore the next month, just before the outbreak of the
Second World War in Europe. The first of the squadron's Blenheims reached Aden on 19 June 1940, nine days after Italy declared war on Britain, and flew its first combat mission of the war on 19 June. The squadron was heavily engaged in the early months of the
Eastern Africa campaign, attacking Italian targets in
Italian East Africa. In December 1940, the squadron moved to Egypt to support the upcoming British offensive in the
Western Desert, known as
Operation Compass, with the squadron being based at
Helwan, near
Cairo, with a forward detachment at
Fuka to support the offensive. In January 1941, the squadron reinforced the RAF squadrons in Greece, fighting in the
Greek Campaign against the Italians, partly re-equipping with newer the Blenheim Mk.IV from
No. 39 Squadron before leaving for Greece, arriving at
Larissa on 28 January. On the night of 28 February and 1 March 1941, Larissa was hit by a powerful earthquake, badly damaging both the airfield and the town. Personnel of the Larissa-based squadrons spent the rest of the night rescuing people trapped in collapsed buildings. In March, the squadron joined the newly-established 'E' (Eastern) Wing for operations over
Thessaliniki. On 6 April 1941, Germany launched an
invasion of Yugoslavia and
Greece. The squadron's Blenheims were employed on attacks on columns of German troops in Yugoslavia, but by 16 April, to avoid the German advance the squadron withdrew from
Almyros to
Acharnes. The few surviving aircraft and crews were evacuated to
Crete and then to Egypt. and from there on to
Aqir,
Palestine where the squadron rebuilt its strength, becoming operational again on 28 May 1941. After reforming, the squadron served in the
Syrian Campaign against the
Vichy French, On 22 June 1941, the squadron's aircraft bombed and damaged the . In August that year the squadron moved to
Habbaniya in Iraq, After returning to Egypt the squadron took part in
Operation Crusader. of No. 11 Squadron at Sinthe, Burma Redeployed to
Colombo, Ceylon in early 1942, the squadron was involved in attacks on Japanese shipping. During 1943, the squadron re-equipped with the
Hawker Hurricane and moved to
Burma in the
ground attack role, supporting the
Fourteenth Army. By January 1943,
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) personnel, or Australians serving in the RAF, made up almost 90% of the aircrews in the squadron. This was despite it not officially being an RAAF
Article XV squadron. At the time, the Australian personnel included the commanding officer,
Wing Commander Harley Stumm. No. 11 Squadron was one of the few RAF squadrons to fight against Italian, German, Vichy French and Japanese forces.
Cold War (1945 onwards) of No. 11 Squadron in 1965|leftNo. 11 Squadron formed part of the
occupation forces in Japan from August 1945 to February 1948, when it disbanded. Reforming in
Germany during October 1949, they flew the
de Havilland Mosquito,
de Havilland Vampire and
de Havilland Venom. The squadron again disbanded in 1957, but reformed in January 1959 with the
Gloster Meteor night fighter. The
Gloster Javelin replaced the Meteor a year later when the squadron was based at
RAF Geilenkirchen in West Germany. It was equipped with the Javelin until it was disbanded in 1966. From August 1988, the squadron operated the twin-seat
Panavia Tornado F3 from
RAF Leeming. The squadron disbanded in October 2005 as part of defence reforms following the publication of the
Delivering Security in a Changing World: Future Capabilities study by the Ministry of Defence in July 2004. The squadron reformed at Coningsby on 29 March 2007, dropping the (F) designation in recognition of its new tasking as the lead Typhoon multi-role squadron. In March 2011, the squadron deployed to
Gioia Del Colle Air Base in Italy, to help police the no-fly zone imposed by
UN Security Council Resolution 1973 over Libya as part of
Operation Ellamy, assisted by
No. 29(R) Squadron personnel and aircraft and further aircraft from
No. 3 Squadron. In 2013, the squadron deployed to the Mediterranean again, this time to
RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, as part of
No. 121 Expeditionary Air Wing, providing air defence of Cyprus as part of Operation Luminous. No. 11 Squadron resumed the use of its '(F)' fighter designation during its centenary year, with celebrations taking place on 7 and 8 May 2015 in the form of a formal dinner with the Squadron Association, and a parade with flypast. During February 2018, the squadron participated in
Exercise Red Flag 18-1, the world's largest and most complex air combat exercise run by the
US Air Force. For the duration of the exercise the squadron's Typhoons operated from
Nellis Air Force Base in
Nevada. During November 2023, the squadron participated in Exercise Ferocious Falcon V, a Qatari led exercise. == Aircraft operated ==