First World War No. 50 Squadron of the
Royal Flying Corps founded at
Dover on 15 May 1916. It was equipped with a mixture of aircraft, including
Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2s and
Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.12s in the home defence role, having flights based at various airfields around
Kent. It flew its first combat mission in August 1916, when its aircraft helped to repel a German
Zeppelin. On 7 July 1917 a 50 Squadron
Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 shot down a German
Gotha bomber off the
North Foreland of Kent. In February 1918, it discarded its miscellany of aircraft to standardise on the more capable
Sopwith Camel fighter, continuing to defend Kent. It was during this period that the squadron started using the running dogs
device on squadron aircraft, a tradition that continued until 1984. The device arose from the radio
call sign Dingo that the squadron was allocated as part of the Home Defence network. It disbanded on 13 June 1919.
Reformation and Second World War No. 50 Squadron reformed at
RAF Waddington on 3 May 1937, equipped with
Hawker Hind biplane light bombers. It started to convert to the
Handley Page Hampden monoplane medium bomber in December 1938, discarding its last Hinds in January 1939. with 13 officers and men from 50 Squadron dead or missing. After these losses, daylight attacks with Hampdens were abandoned. Despite these problems, the squadron continued in operations, contributing 17 Manchesters to
Operation Milliennium the "1,000 aircraft" raid against
Cologne on 30/31 May 1942. It lost two aircraft that night, one of which piloted by
Flying Officer Leslie Thomas Manser who was posthumously awarded the
Victoria Cross for pressing on with the attack after his aircraft was heavily damaged, and when a crash became inevitable, sacrificing his own life by remaining at the controls to allow the rest of his crew to parachute to safety. The squadron soon re-equipped with the four-engined
Avro Lancaster, which it used for the rest of the war against German targets, It replaced its Lancasters with
Avro Lincolns in 1946, disbanding at Waddington on 31 January 1951. It received Vulcan B.2s in December 1966, The Falklands War, and the continuing need to maintain supply flights to the South Atlantic after the end of the war, resulted in a shortage of
air-to-air refuelling tankers, and it was decided to convert six Vulcans to single point tankers, the first conversion flying on 18 June 1982 and entering service on 23 June. No. 50 Squadron was selected as the operator of the tankers, serving as the last unit to operate the Vulcan until disbanding on 31 March 1984. ==Aircraft operated==