Number 28 Squadron, also known as No. 28 (Army Co-operation) Squadron or No. 28 (AC) Squadron, is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. Based at RAF Benson, it serves as the RAF's Operational Conversion Unit for the Westland Puma HC2 and Boeing Chinook HC5/6/6A helicopters.
History
First World War
No. 28 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed on 7 November 1915 at RAF Gosport. Initially it was a training squadron equipped with a variety of different aircraft, although in June 1916, it was also recorded as having home defence duties, for which it had a few Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.12s, although it lost this role in July that year. On 9 June, part of the squadron was split off to form the nucleus of the new 56 Squadron. In July 1917, 28 Squadron moved to Yatesbury in Wiltshire for conversion to the fighter role, receiving the Sopwith Camel from September 1917.
The squadron moved to France on 8 October 1917, and flew its first operational sortie on 20 October, during the Battle of Passchendaele, when 19 of the squadron's aircraft provided cover during an attack by Camels of 70 Squadron on a German airfield at Rumbeke, Belgium, with 28 Squadron claiming three German aircraft shot down. On 26 October, as a result of the Austro-German offensive against Italy at the Battle of Caporetto, the British government agreed to sent troops and aircraft to reinforce the Italians, and 28 Squadron was one of the squadrons ordered to Italy, arriving at Milan by rail on 12 November, with its aircraft uncrated and reassembled by 14 November. The squadron's aircraft flew escort missions for army cooperation patrols over the front lines, as well as for longer-range strategic reconnaissance missions and for bombing raids.
From February 1918, the squadron added attacks against enemy airfields to its duties, and in March, a flight of Bristol F.2 Fighters was attached to the squadron for long-range reconnaissance, although they were soon passed in to 34 Squadron. On 1 April 1918, the squadron became part of the newly established Royal Air Force. On 15 June 1918, Austria-Hungary launched a major offensive on the Italian front. As the weather on the sector of the front (on the Asiago plateau) held by British troops was too poor for air power to be useful, the RAF squadrons' efforts were diverted to help the Italians on the Piave front, where Austro-Hungarian forces had crossed the River Piave. All available British aircraft were employed against the Austro-Hungarian forces, and in particular against the crossings over the Piave, and when the offensive had been stopped, against the retreating Austro-Hungarian troops. On 27 October 1918, the Italians launched their final, successful, offensive of the war, at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. RAF squadrons, including 28 Squadron, were employed in attacking the retreating Austro-Hungarian troops until the Armistice of Villa Giusti ended the fighting on 4 November.
By the end of the First World War, the squadron had claimed 111 enemy aircraft destroyed, with a further 24 driven down out of control. It numbered eleven flying aces among its ranks, with future Air Vice-Marshal Clifford MacKay McEwen, with 27 claims, being the squadron's leading scorer. Other aces included William George Barker (who claimed 22 of his total of 50 while with the squadron), Harold B. Hudson, James Hart Mitchell, Stanley Stanger, Arthur Cooper, Percy Wilson, Thomas Frederic Williams, and Joseph E. Hallonquist.
Inter war years
The squadron returned to Britain in February 1919, first to its old home at Yatesbury, then to Leighterton in Gloucestershire and to Eastleigh in Hampshire in October 1919. It was disbanded on 20 January 1920 at Eastleigh. On 1 April 1920, however, it was reformed at RAF Ambala in Northern India by renumbering 114 Squadron, an army cooperation squadron equipped with the Bristol F2b Fighter. The squadron operated over the North-West Frontier, moving to Kohat in December 1921. While the squadron had an authorised establishment of 12 aircraft, the actual number of aircraft possessed by the squadron was usually considerably less, with the squadron recorded as having 7 aircraft on 30 June 1922. Serviceability of the RAF's India-based aircraft was also poor, with many of the aircraft old and worn out. In an August 1922 report on the state of the RAF in India Air Vice Marshall John Salmond noted that of an authorised establishment of 70 aircraft in India, only 7 were operational, with aircraft flying without equipment essential to safety, and concluded that "...the Royal Air Force in India is to all intents and purposes non-existent as a fighting force at this date."