ROYAL AUXILIARY AIR FORCE I 100 th ANNIVERSARY
609 ( West Riding ) Squadron RAuxAF
“ The White Rose Squadron ”
Hawker Harts and Fairy Battle in 1938
609 ( West Riding ) Sqn formed at RAF Yeadon north of Leeds in February 1936 as a day bomber unit of the Auxiliary Air Force , In December 1938 it was redesignated a fighter unit and by September 1939 , on the outbreak of war , 609 was flying Spitfires , the majority of pilots and groundcrews being reservists , Integrated into Fighter Command , following the start of hostilities , the Sqn saw little action during the first few months of the war , being stationed in the north at Drem and Catterick . However , with the threat of German action in the west looming , 609 was transferred to southern England and was stationed at Northolt , west of London . From here 609 saw extensive action over the Channel and especially over Dunkirk during the frantic withdrawal of the BEF from France during
9 Spitfires at Drem late May and early June 1940 , moving to Middle Wallop near Salisbury in July 1940 . As the Battle of Britain grew in intensity throughout late July and into August of 1940 , 609 ’ s ‘ score ’ steadily rose and its reputation spread . 609 was the first Spitfire Sqn to achieve 100 enemy aircraft destroyed , 14 of which occurred in one single engagement on 13 August over the Isle of Wight . By November 1940 however , the original core of West Riding Auxiliary pilots had been lost , the last one being Flight Lieutenant John Dundas , an ace with at least 12 victories . The arrival of new pilots had a cosmopolitan effect on the Sqn , a fact bemoaned by one of the staunch West Yorkshire groundcrew who was not amused –
“ It ’ s bad enough having to deal with all these foreigners - Canadians , Aussies , a Kiwi , Frenchies , some Belgians and a Yank , but now we have to put up with two Lancastrians !”
Hawker Typhoon
609 Sqn then carried the fight across the Channel with daily raids and sweeps over occupied France to bring the Luftwaffe fighter force to battle . 609 were re-equipped with the Typhoon in 1942 ; the only Auxiliary Sqn to fly
the type , operating it in the ground attack role with rockets , bombs and four 20mm-cannon , until the end of hostilities in the Battle for Normandy and throughout the course of the campaign in
609 Meteors 1957
North-West Europe . 609 was the first Typhoon Sqn to destroy 50 enemy aircraft and became the highest scoring Typhoon Sqn with a total of 227 enemy aircraft accounted for .
Following wartime service , 609 returned to Yeadon , the pre-war home base , as part of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force ( RAuxAF ) and flew Mosquitos and Spitfires and then Meteors , flown from a new base , RAF Church Fenton near Ex COBRA WARRIOR Tadcaster , this move being necessary to take advantage of the longer runways until the Sqn was disbanded in 1957 . In 1998 RAF Leeming formed the Air Defence Support Sqn ( ADSS ), a multi-traded reserve unit in the Air Defence Role to support the Tornado F3 Wing based there . In 1999 the ADSS became an Operational Support Sqn ( OSS ) and was granted the number plate 609 , so the ‘ White Rose Sqn ’ was reborn after 42 years .
Since 1999 , 609 Sqn personnel have served around the world undertaking a variety of tasks . The whole unit deployed to the Gulf for a 6-month period in early 2003 during the Iraq War with personnel serving in Kuwait , Oman , Jordan , Cyprus , and Iraq itself .
Members of the Sqn also served alongside their regular colleagues in Afghanistan and were some of the last ones to leave Camp Bastion in October 2014 . The Sqn ’ s role is now Fixed Site Counter- Uncrewed Air Systems ( C-UAS ) as part of No2 C-UAS Wg of the Royal Air Force Regt C & RF with the majority of reservists being ‘ Gunners ’ although a few other trades are included in the structure of the unit . 609 is the only RAF Regt Reserve unit in the north of England and because of the geographical location recruits from a wide area such as North , West and South Yorkshire , the conurbations of Newcastle and Sunderland , and even parts of Cumbria , Lancashire , and Cheshire !
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