Number 47 Squadron is an inactive squadron of the Royal Air Force. Previously based at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, it last operated the Lockheed Martin Hercules C4/C5 between 2013 and 2023. It previously flew the Lockheed Hercules C.1/C.3 between 1968 and 2013.
History
First World War
No. 47 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was formed at Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire on 1 March 1916 as a home defence unit, protecting Hull and East Yorkshire against attack by German Zeppelins, being equipped with a mix of aircraft, including Armstrong Whitworth F.K.3s, FK.8s and Royal Aircraft Factory BE.12s. After six months training and flying defensive patrols, it was split up, with two flights joining 33 Squadron, and the remainder being sent to Salonika in Greece, to support forces fighting on the Macedonian Front, arriving on 20 September 1916.
It retained a mixture of aircraft, with two flights being used for reconnaissance and bombing while the third flight operated fighters. When the German battlecruiser Goeben ran aground near outside the Dardanelles after the Battle of Imbros, three 47 Squadron aircraft were sent to attack the stranded ship. Despite continual attacks from these and other aircraft little damage was done to the Goeben owing to the light bombs used. On 1 April 1918, the Royal Flying Corps became part of the Royal Air Force, and the fighter flights (by now equipped with the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5A) of both 47 Squadron and No. 17 Squadron were detached to form 150 Squadron. 47 Squadron, now divested of its fighters, and solely equipped with Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8s, was used mainly in the Corps Reconnaissance role, but were used to bomb the retreating Bulgarian forces following the Allied offensive of September 1918.
Interwar
After the end of World War I, in April 1919, the squadron was sent to Southern Russia to help General Denikin's White Russian forces in their fight against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. While the RAF's ostensible mission was purely to provide training to Denikin's forces, No. 47 Squadron was included in the mission in order to carry out operational sorties. It was equipped with a mixture of aircraft, with flights equipped with Airco DH.9 and DH.9A bombers and Sopwith Camel fighters. The squadron's flights operated independently, carrying out bombing and strafing missions against Bolshevik forces. One notable incident occurred on 30 July 1919, when, during an attack by C Flight DH.9s on Bolshevik gunboats at Tcherni-Yar, the DH.9 flown by William Elliot was shot down. On seeing this, the DH.9 flown by Captain Anderson, despite itself receiving damage that required his gunner, Lt Mitchell to climb onto the wing and block a leaking fuel tank with his thumb, landed next to the stricken aircraft to rescue its crew. Anderson and Mitchell were recommended for the Victoria Cross for this action, but in the end they were awarded the Distinguished Service Order. No. 47 Squadron was disbanded on 7 October 1919, being re-designated 'A' Squadron, Royal Air Force Instructional Mission, South Russia.
Although it was not a fighter unit, the squadron did have at least two aces serve in it: Samuel Kinkead and Charles Green.
On 1 February 1920 the squadron was re-formed at RAF Helwan in Egypt when 206 Squadron was re-numbered. It was a day bomber squadron equipped with the DH.9, re-equipping with Airco DH.9As in 1921. One of the duties was policing in Sudan and the squadron detached aircraft to Khartoum. Another important task carried out during the Squadron's early years in Egypt was to help survey and mark out the route of the Cairo to Baghdad air route, and to carry air mail along that route. Between 27 October and 19 November 1925, three aircraft, led by Squadron Leader Arthur Coningham (later an Air Vice Marshal and commander of the Western Desert Air Force during the Second World War), carried out the first RAF round trip flight between Egypt and Kano, Nigeria, covering 6,500 miles in 24 days, with 85 hours flying time.