No.
1 Squadron
No.
1 Squadron
Number One Squadron was first formed at Point Cook, Victoria, in January, 1916, in the Australian Flying Corps
which at this time was part of the Army.
It soon left Point Cook and arrived in Egypt on the 14th of April. The squadrons aircrew were not full trained at this
stage and they continued on to the United Kingdom for further flying training. In the meantime the ground crew
were sent out to various other squadrons in the area.
The training had been completed by June and the squadron was prepared for action. On the 12th of September the squadron
was renamed 67 (Australian) Squadron, Royal Flying Corps (The name was changed back to 1 Squadron in January, 1918).
The squadrons home base was Heliopolis, but detachments operated from airstrips throughout the Canal Zone. During
this period a member of the squadron won a Victoria Cross. Lieutenant D. W. Rutherfords BE2c was damaged by anti
aircraft fire and he was wounded and he was forced to land in enemy territory. Lieutenant F. McNamara was also wounded
by anti aircraft fire, but despite this he landed his Martinsyde near Rutherfords aircraft and picked him up.
This was not the end of the episode as McNamara's aircraft crashed during the take off. The two pilots ran back to the
damaged BE2c and McNamara managed to get it started and he then took off under fire from Turkish Cavalry which were
trying to prevent their escape.
The squadron performed a wide range of tasks during its time in the Middle East including air superiority, reconnaissance
and bombing. The surrender of Turkey on the 31st of September, 1918, saw the squadron move back to Kantara and
on the 5th of May, 1919, the squadron was disbanded.
Number One Squadron was reformed at Point Cook under the command of Flight Lieutenant A. H. Cobby on the 1st of July,
1925, this time as part of the RAAF. In June, 1928, the squadron moved to Laverton and was involved with training,
civil aid and public relation tasks.
When World War Two began the squadron was equipped with Avro Ansons and it was tasked with convoy escort and maritime patrol missions. During May, 1941, the squadron was re-equipped with Lockheed Hudsons and shortly afterwards was moved to Singapore, initially being based at Sembawang and then Kota Baharu in Northern Malaya.
The squadron was kept busy with training and reconnaissance flights and on the 6th of December one of their Hudsons
located Japanese convoys approaching Malaya. The squadron kept watch on the convoy, but were not allowed to take any
action against it. Early in the morning of the 8th of December, the Japanese started shelling and landing troops
at Kota Baharu Beach. The squadron immediately commenced air strikes against the Japanese and by late morning two ships
had been sunk and another damaged and the Japanese had lost a substantial number of troops and supplies for the loss of
two Hudsons which were shot down and several others which were damaged.
The Japanese began air raids on Kota Baharu Airfield and late in the day the squadron had only five serviceable
Hudsons left. By this time Japanese troops were near the perimeter of the airfield and the field was coming under
small arms fire. This caused the remainder of the squadron to quickly withdraw to Kuantan and then to Sembawang where
it was amalgamated with what was left of Eight Squadron. The squadron kept up operations over Malaya until the 29th of January, 1942, when it withdrew to Palembang on Sumatra.
The squadron didn't get much respite as the Japanese also invaded Sumatra on the 14th of February. The squadron
carried out a number of bombing raids on the invading Japanese, but these were not enough to stop them and on the
16th of February the remaining aircraft were withdrawn to Palembang, on Java. The squadron continued operations
against the Japanese from this base until early March when the last four surviving Hudsons were flown back to Australia
and the squadron was disbanded. 160 members of the squadron were left behind and were captured by the Japanese. Fewer
than half of these men survived their time in captivity.
The squadron was reformed on the 1st of December, 1943 at Menangle, Queensland and was equipped with Beauforts. It
soon moved to Gould in the Northern Territory and on the 20th of March, 1944 it began operations. The squadron was
involved with bombing, reconnaissance and maritime patrol missions.
The squadron moved again on the 1st of January, 1945 down to Kingaroy in Queensland where it was re-equipped with
Mosquitos. In May, 1945 the squadron had converted to the Mosquito and was ready for operations once again. It moved
to Moratai and the next month to Labuan. The squadron later was withdrawn to Australia and disbanded at Narromine, New
South Wales on the 7th of August, 1946.
On the 23rd of February, 1948 at Amberley, Queensland and was equipped with Lincolns. In July, 1950 it moved to
Tengah in Singapore and began operations against the Communist Terrorists. The squadron spent the next 8 years
engaged on these operations carrying out both daylight and night bombing raids and it dropped 85% of the total weight
of bombs used in the Malayan campaign.
In July, 1958 the squadron returned to Amberley and converted to the Canberra. The squadron kept their
Canberras until 1970 when they re-equipped with Phantoms and then again with F-111s in 1973.
Formed: Jan16
Disbanded: 05May19
Re-formed: 01Jul25
Disbanded: 1942
Re-formed: Dec43
Disbanded: Jun46
Re-formed: Feb48
Equipment
Airco D.H.6
Airco D.H.9
Airco D.H.9A
Avro Anson
Avro Lincoln
Bristol Beaufort
Bristol Bulldog
Handley Page 0/400
Hawker Demon
Martinsyde G.100
Martinsyde G.102
Nieuport 17
Royal Aircraft Factory BE-2
Royal Aircraft Factory BE-12
Royal Aircraft Factory RE-8
Westland Wapiti
Bases
Mar16 Point Cook, Australia
Apr16-Dec16 Heliopolis
Dec16-Jan17 Mustabig
Jan17-Mar17 Kilo
Mar17-Jun17 Rafa, Palestine
Jun17-Sep17 Deir-el-Belah, Palestine
Sep17-Dec17 Wehi Sheikh Nuran, Palestine
Dec17-Feb18 Julis, Palestine
Feb18-Apr18 El Mejdel, Palestine
Apr18-Oct18 Ramleh, Palestine
Oct18-Nov18 Haifa
Nov18-Feb19 Ramleh, Palestine
Feb19-Mar19 Kantara, Egypt
Jul25-Jun28 Point Cook, Australia
Jun28-Jul40 Laverton, Australia
Jul40-Aug41 Sembawang, Singapore
Aug41-Dec41 Kota Baharu, Malaysia
Dec41-Jan42 Sembawang, Singapore
Feb42 Palembang, Java
Feb42 Semplak, Java
Feb42-Mar42 Kalidjati, Java
Mar42 Andir, Java
Dec43-Mar44 Menangle, Australia
Mar44-Jan45 Gould, Australia
Jan45-May45 Kingaroy, Australia
May45-Jun45 Moratai
Jun45-Dec45 Labuan
Dec45-Jun46 Narromine, Australia
Feb48-Jul50 Amberley, Australia
Jul50-Jul58 Tengah, Singapore
Jul58- Amberley, Australia
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