No. 80 Squadron RAF
Active	1 Sept 1917 – 1 April 1918 (RFC) 1 April 1918 – 1 February 1920 (RAF) 8 March 1937 – 1 May 1955 1 August 1955 – 28 September 1969 15 April 2024 – present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Part of	Air and Space Warfare Centre
Home station	Eglin AFB, Florida
Nickname	Weighty Eighty[1]
Motto	"Strike True"[2]
Battle honours	Lys;Western Front, 1918*; Marne, 1918;Somme, 1918*;Egypt & Libya, 1940–43*;Greece, 1940–41*; Syria 1941;El Alamein*: Mediterranean, 1940–43;Italy, 1944*; South-East Europe, 1944;Normandy, 1944*; Home Defence 1944; Fortress Europe, 1944; France & Germany, 1944–45*; Arnhem; Rhine Honours marked with an asterisk* are emblazoned on the Squadron Standard[3]
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	A bell[2] The badge commemorates one of the squadron's early commanders, Maj. V.D. Bell[4]
Squadron Codes	GK (Oct 1938 – May 1939, 1940 – Jun 1940) OD (May 1939 – 1940) YK (Jun 1940 – Jan 1941) EY (Jul 1942 – Apr 1944) W2 (Apr 1944 – 1952)
Squadron Roundel

Number 80 Squadron is asquadron of theRoyal Air Force. It was reformed on 15 April 2024 atEglin Air Force Base, Florida, after the numberplate was awarded to the British team at the Australia, Canada and United Kingdom Reprogramming Laboratory (ACURL).^[5] It was aRoyal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Air Force (RAF) squadron active from 1917 until 1969. It was operative during both theFirst andSecond World Wars.

Founded on 1 August 1917 atMontrose Air Station, Scotland, equipped with theSopwith Camel and intended as a fighter squadron, 80 Squadron was sent to France to serve on theWestern Front in January 1918, acting initially in a fighter role.^[6] However, German offensives in March of the same year resulted in 80 Sqn being reallocated in a ground-attack role, still with Camels. It continued this duty until the end of the war. As a result, the squadron had only one ace,Harold Whistler, although it claimed approximately 60 aerial victories.^[7]

The Camels were replaced withSopwith Snipes in December 1918 and in May the following year the squadron moved toEgypt, where it served for a short period of time before being amalgamated intoNo. 56 Squadron RAF.^[8]

The squadron was reformed in March 1937 again as No. 80 Squadron, now equipped withGloster Gauntlet fighter. However, by now the Gauntlet was considered by many to be outdated, and as a result the Gauntlets were replaced by theGloster Gladiator just two months later. In 1938, the squadron again returned toEgypt as an 'air defence unit'. After Italy's declaration of war on Britain on 10 June 1940, No. 80 Squadron was moved to the Egyptian-Libyan border but was subsequently one of the units sent to aid the Greeks during theGreco-Italian War, initially flying Gladiators and then re-equipping with theHawker Hurricane from February 1941.^[9] The squadron lost most of its aircraft during the Greek and Crete actions and reformed atRAF Aqir in Palestine in May 1941 before deploying detachments to Nicosia in Cyprus and 'A' Flight toRAF Haifa. The squadron moved totally to Cyprus in July 1941, before returning to Syria the next month, and then joining the fighting in North Africa two months later. During theBattle of El Alamein it was responsible for defending communications lines. It remained in that area until early 1944, when it returned to Britain to prepare forOperation Overlord (the Allied invasion of Europe). It was equipped with theSupermarine Spitfire Mk IX operating fromRAF Detling as part ofAir Defence of Great Britain Command (ADGB), though under the operational control ofRAF Second Tactical Air Force (2nd TAF).^[10] When 2nd TAF began moving to Normandy after D-Day, the squadron remained in ADGB, re-equipping withHawker Tempest aircraft on anti-V-1 flying bomb duties as part ofOperation Diver. After this threat diminished, No. 80 Squadron moved on to the continent and resumed a fighter role until the end of the war in Europe.^[8]

As part of the occupation forces, 2TAF akaBritish Air Forces of Occupation, the squadron continued its patrol and reconnaissance duties fromRAF Wunstorf in Germany, until it relocated to Hong Kong in July 1949 (the Tempests having been replaced bySupermarine Spitfire F.24s in 1948). During theChinese Civil War, No. 80 Squadron's main duty was to defend Hong Kong from perceived Communist threats. The Spitfires departed in 1951, replaced by thede Havilland Hornet, and the squadron remained in Hong Kong until being disbanded on 1 May 1955. However, two months later it was reformed as a reconnaissance unit atRAF Laarbruch. Equipped withEnglish Electric Canberra PR.7s, it moved toRAF Bruggen in June 1957 from then until 28 September 1969, when it was disbanded.^[11]

On 15 April 2024, No. 80 Squadron was reformed, alongsideNo. 80 Squadron of theRoyal Australian Air Force, in a ceremony atEglin Air Force Base, Florida, as anAir & Space Warfare Centre Squadron.^[5][12]

• David Coke
• Nigel Cullen
• Roald Dahl
• William Vale
• Pat Pattle
• Tap Jones
• John Urwin-Mann

^[2][4][13]

• Cathay Pacific VR-HEU

• Chorlton, Martyn (June 2013). "The Gladiator Strikes True".Aeroplane. Vol. 41, no. 6. pp. 27–32.ISSN 0143-7240.
• Ken Delve,D-Day: The Air Battle, London: Arms & Armour Press, 1994,ISBN 1-85409-227-8.
• Halley, James J.The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth 1918–1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988.ISBN 0-85130-164-9.
• Jefford, C.G.RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1988 (second edition 2001).ISBN 1-85310-053-6.
• Rawlings, John D.R.Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982.ISBN 0-7106-0187-5.
• Rawlings, John.Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1969 (second edition 1976).ISBN 0-354-01028-X.
• Rawlings, J. D. R. "History of 80 Squadron".Air Pictorial, December 1962, Vol. 24, No. 12. pp. 392–394.
• Shores, Christopher.Strike True: The Story of No. 80 Squadron Royal Air Force. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1986.ISBN 0-85130-126-6.
• Shores, Christopher; Franks, Norman; Guest, Russell (1990).Above The Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920. London: Grub Street.ISBN 0-948817-19-4.

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