No. 52 Squadron

Motto: "Sudore quam sanguine" ("By sweat and blood").
Badge: A lion rampant guardant holding in the forepaws a flash of lightning. The personnel of this squadron were originally recruited from the district of Hounslow, Heston and Isleworth, so the lion has been introduced which appears in the arms of Heston and Isleworth and in those which were used by Hounslow Abbey. The flash of lightning refers to the marking used by this squadron during the First World War.
Authority: King George VI, June 1939.

No. 52 Squadron, RFC, was formed at Hounslow, Middlesex, on 15th May 1916, and from November of that year until the Armistice served as an army co-operation squadron on the Western Front. Disbanded in 1919, it re-formed at Abingdon as a bomber squadron in January 1937 and was given Hawker Hinds. In November/December 1937 it re-equipped with Fairey Battles (later joined, for special training purposes, by Avro Ansons) and for the first few months of World War 2 had an instructional role; it helped maintain the Advanced Air Striking Force in the field, one of its duties during this period being the training of AASF pilots in the spraying of poison gas from Battle aircraft. The squadron ceased to exist as such in April 1940, and re-formed properly (having acted as a maintenance unit since nominally re-forming in July 1941) in the latter part of 1942 at Mosul, Iraq, with Blenheim IV's when it became part of the Middle East Air Force.

Bomber Command WWII Bases:

• Abingdon : Sep 1939
• Benson : Sep 1939-Apr 1940

Bomber Command WWII Aircraft:

• Fairey Battle : Nov 1937-Apr 1940

Code Letters:

• Note: During the 1938 Munich crisis No. 52 was allotted the code letters "MB". In WW2, during its time with Bomber Command, its codes were "ZE".

No operational missions were flown during the squadron's time with Bomber Command.

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