Number 92 Squadron, also known as No. 92 (East India) Squadron and currently as No. 92 Tactics and Training Squadron, of the Royal Air Force is a test and evaluation squadron based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. It was formed as part of the Royal Flying Corps at London Colney as a fighter squadron on 1 September 1917. It deployed to France in July 1918 and saw action for just four months, until the end of the war. During the conflict it flew both air superiority and direct ground support missions. It was disbanded at Eil on 7 August 1919. Reformed on 10 October 1939,at Tangmere Airfield, the unit was supposed to be equipped with medium bombers but in the spring of 1940 it became one of the first RAF units to receive the Supermarine Spitfire, going on to fight in the Battle of Britain.
Reformed after the war in January 1947, No. 92 (Fighter) Squadron was assigned to RAF Fighter Command flying the Gloster Meteor F.3. Between 1961 and 1962, No. 92 (F) Squadron was the RAF's official aerobatic team, flying 16 Hawker Hunter F.6s known as the Blue Diamonds. In December 1965, the squadron was reassigned to RAF Germany alongside No. 19 (F) Squadron, flying the English Electric Lightning F.2/F.2A and from January 1977, the McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.2. Disbanded in July 1991, the Squadron was reformed as No. 92 (Reserve) Squadron at RAF Chivenor flying the British Aerospace Hawk until October 1994. No. 92 Squadron then lay dormant for the next 14 years before being reformed at Royal Air Force College Cranwell on 30 June 2009.
Operational history
First World War
No. 92 Squadron was established as part of the Royal Flying Corps at London Colney on 1 September 1917, working up as a scout squadron with Sopwith Pups, SPAD S.VIIs, and Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5as. The Squadron became part of the Royal Air Force on its formation on 1 April 1918. Standardising on SE.5as, the squadron went to France in July 1918, at first operating in the Dunkirk area. It was then moved to Serny in August 1918, where it began scoring victories. During the Somme Offensive of 1918 the squadron was heavily involved, and continued to operate over the Western Front until the Armistice. It was disbanded on 7 August 1919, while stationed at Eil with the Army of Occupation. It had claimed a total of 38 victories during its World War I service. Eight aces had served in the squadron, including Oren Rose, Thomas Stanley Horry, William Reed, Earl Frederick Crabb, future Air Chief Marshal James Robb, Evander Shapard, Herbert Good, and future Air Marshal Arthur Coningham.
Second World War
Following the outbreak of the Second World War, No. 92 Squadron was reformed on 10 October 1939 at RAF Tangmere, West Sussex. Initially it flew Bristol Blenheim Mk.IFs but in March 1940 they were replaced by the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I, which became operational on 9 May. No. 92 Squadron first saw action over the Dunkirk evacuation beaches flying from RAF Croydon. During the latter stages of the Battle of Britain No. 92 Squadron flew from RAF Biggin Hill.
In February 1942, the Squadron was posted to Egypt to join Air Headquarters Western Desert to support the Allies on the ground. Personnel arrived in Egypt in April but no aircraft were available. Some pilots flew operations with Hawker Hurricanes of No. 80 Squadron. Spitfires finally arrived in August and the squadron commenced operations from RAF Heliopolis over the El Alamein sector, and then with their Spitfire Vs at Landing Ground 173 in the Western Desert. No. 92 Squadron provided air cover at the Battle of El Alamein and on 18 April 1943, 11 Spitfires from the squadron flew top cover at the Palm Sunday Massacre during which approximately 75 axis aircraft were disabled or destroyed. Following the Allied victory in North Africa, the Squadron moved to Malta in June. It went on to provide air cover for the 8th Army during the campaigns in Sicily and Italy, arriving on Italian soil on 14 September 1943. No. 92 Squadron then followed the armies up the Italian coast as part of No. 244 Wing and No. 211 (Offensive Fighter) Group. During World War II the Squadron claimed the highest number of victories scored, 317, in the RAF.