ROYAL AUXILIARY AIR FORCE I 100 th ANNIVERSARY
614 ( County of Glamorgan ) Squadron RAuxAF
The only RAuxAF Sqn in Wales , 614 ( County of Glamorgan ) Squadron was formed on 1 June 1937 at RAF Pengam Moors which was also known as Cardiff Municipal Airport . It was established as an Army Co-Operation Sqn , receiving Hawker Hectors to serve in this role . Its motto is in Welsh – unique among RAF Sqns – and reflects its early reconnaissance role : ‘ Codaf i Geisio ’ – ‘ I Rise to Search ’.
614 Sqn Hawker Hectors over Cardiff in 1938
In October 1939 , now flying the Westland Lysander , 614 Sqn left Pengam Moors for Odiham and in June 1940 , the Sqn moved to Grangemouth near Edinburgh . Their task was to patrol the entire east coast of Scotland . In these desperate times , it was one of the few RAF sqns tasked and trained to spray poison gas had an invasion come . With the RAF Regiment not yet formed , airmen were armed with rudimentary weapons - ancient American Ross rifles and pickaxe handles - with which to fight off enemy parachutists .
They remained in Scotland until August 1942 , moving to Macmerry in March 1941 . Re-equipped with Blenheim IV medium bombers , they saw combat for the first time from May to June 1942 attacking night fighter bases as part of the 1,000 bomber raids .
In August 1942 , the Sqn took part in the ill-fated Dieppe raid . Using the skills honed spraying gas , they were tasked with laying a smokescreen for the invading forces . Here the first of the Sqn to die in combat was a gunner killed from ground fire . The pilot of his stricken Blenheim won one of two DFCs for 614 Sqn that day when although gravely injured he flew his aircraft back to England and after crash-landing dragged the severely injured Observer from the burning aircraft .
In November 1942 , the Sqn departed for North Africa as part of Operation Torch . Based at Blida in Algeria , they flew the Blenheim V or Bisley in support of the combined British and American forces advancing west . The vulnerability of the Bisley was shown when a raid involving 614 , 13 and 18 Squadrons – all part of 326 Wing – had all nine aircraft shot down .
From then on , based at Canrobert and later Oulmene , 614 Sqn became specialists at night bombing , playing a role in stemming the Axis advance at the Kasserine Pass and in the eventual defeat of German and Italian forces in Africa in May 1943 .
With the North African campaign at an end , 614 Sqn was tasked with flying anti-submarine and convoy escort patrols to cover the invasion of Sicily . Following that island ’ s capture , the Sqn moved there in August 1943 to fly Air Sea Rescue missions over the Mediterranean based at Borizzo . In March 1944 , the Sqn moved to Celone and later to Amendola in southern Italy and its role changed yet again . This time flying the Halifax and later the Liberator , they would operate as Pathfinders - the only RAF Sqn to do this outside the UK . For the rest of the war they attacked heavily defended targets across the Balkans and central Europe , including the vital refineries at Ploesti in Romania - Germany ’ s only source of oil .
Disbanded in July 1945 the Sqn reformed in May 1946 back in Wales at RAF Llandow , near Cardiff . Like the rest of the Auxiliary Air Force , 614 Sqn became a fighter squadron , flying Spitfire Mk XVIs and then F22s . In this new role they exercised regularly with USAF bombers based in the UK and other NATO aircraft .
Disaster struck the Sqn in 1950 when an airliner carrying rugby fans back from a Five Nations game crashed at Llandow . Members of 614 Sqn helped pull survivors from the wreckage but sadly of the 83 passengers on board , 80 were killed . That number tragically included the Sqn OC , Squadron Leader Irving who had organised a trip from his hometown of Cwmbran .
614 Sqn moved into the jet age , with the introduction of the Vampire F3 . Many ceremonial flypasts were staged , including the one marking the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II over Cardiff Castle .
Along with much of the RAuxAF , 614 Sqn was disbanded in 1957 but was reformed in 2014 as one of the General Service
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