#1812 2 Sqn, Typhoon FGR4 print
Description
Squadron Prints Lithograph No. 1812 - ZK369, Typhoon FGR4, II(AC) Squadron, RAF Lossiemouth.
No. II(AC) Squadron, affectionately known as “Shiny Two”, was formed at Farnborough on 13 May 1912 with a mixture of aircraft as one of the first two fixed-wing flying squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps. After a period at Montrose airfield, the Squadron was the first Royal Flying Corps unit deployed to France in August 1914 as part of the British Expeditionary Force. Flying from many locations in France during WW1, the Squadron provided vital reconnaissance information needed by the ground troops. It was during this time that, on 26 April 1915, 2nd Lt Rhodes-Moorhouse was fatally wounded and posthumously awarded a VC, the first ever to be won in the air. In March 1918 the Squadron’s second VC was awarded to a Canadian, 2nd Lt MacLeod. The Squadron re-equipped with FK 8s in April 1917, returned to the UK in February 1919 and disbanded on 20 January 1920. It reformed on 1 February 1920 for Army Cooperation duties in Ireland but returned to Digby in 1922 and operated from bases in England until April 1927 when it left for Shanghai in China. The Squadron moved to Manston in October 1927 until late 1935 when it moved to Hawkinge. During this time, it operated Bristol F2b Fighters, Atlas, Audax, Hector and eventually Lysander aircraft, which were later used to insert troops into enemy territory during WW2. In August 1941 the Squadron re-equipped with the Tomahawk, and in April 1942, the Mustang. After D-Day, II(AC) Squadron returned to France and advanced with the Army into the Netherlands where it received Spitfire XIVs in November 1944. After the War, the Squadron remained in Europe as a fighter-reconnaissance unit, part of the Second Allied Tactical Air Force. The Spitfires were replaced by Meteor FR9s and PR10s and in March 1956, the Squadron received Swift FR5s until Hunter FR10s replaced them in March 1961. Conversion to Phantom FGR2s took place at Brüggen in December 1970 and the Squadron moved to Laarbruch on 1 April 1971 where it re-equipped in April 1976 with Jaguar GR1s. The Tornado GR1A reconnaissance aircraft replaced the Jaguar in January 1989. Following lraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, II(AC) Squadron deployed as part of a joint reconnaissance unit with XIII Squadron, where they completed 128 night low-level Scud-hunting missions. On 1 December 1991 the Squadron relocated to Marham, and continued to deploy to the Middle East on operations to enforce the No-Fly Zones over Iraq; in 1999 the Squadron dropped its first wartime bomb since WW2. In 2001, II(AC) Squadron led the Tornado GR4/4A and the RAPTOR reconnaissance pod into service. The Squadron was involved with Operation TELIC in lraq from 2003 until the withdrawal of all UK Forces in 2009. In 2010, II(AC) Squadron deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, to conduct close air support and reconnaissance missions for Operation HERRICK. In 2011 the Squadron deployed to Gioia del Colle for Operation ELLAMY where it patrolled the skies over Libya for almost five months, flying nearly 900 combat sorties, amassing over 4600 flying hours and successfully engaging around 700 targets. 2014 saw the Squadron deployed to three different theatres of operation: Afghanistan for Operation HERRICK; Cyprus for Operation SHADER; and Chad for a reconnaissance mission. On 9 January 2015, the Squadron was re-equipped with the Typhoon FGR4 multi-role aircraft and relocated to Lossiemouth, where it immediately began an enduring commitment to the Quick Reaction Alert (Interceptor) North task and support to the defence of the Falkland Islands. The Squadron deployed for NATO Air Policing to Estonia in 2016 for Operation AZOTIZE, to Romania in 2018 for Operation BILOXI and to Poland in 2025 for Operation CHESSMAN. The Squadron has also been heavily involved in Operation SHADER in Cyprus to conduct close air support missions since May 2017 and was the first squadron to deploy with the Brimstone 2, Meteor and Storm Shadow as part of Project CENTURION in 2019.
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