XIII Squadron History - The Post War Years
The end of the Second World War heralded XIII Squadron's return to the reconnaissance role. XIII Squadron was briefly disbanded before No 680 photographic reconnaissance unit was reformed as 13 PR (Photographic Reconnaissance) Sqn. The Squadron was reformed in September 1946 at Ein Shamar in the then Palestine and operated the famous Mosquito aircraft in PR16 and PR 34 reconnaissance variants. Remaining in the Middle East the Squadron relocated from Palestine to Egypt where the Squadron stayed until 1955. The Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya and Uganda during October 1952 saw the squadron return to an operational Recce task. The Squadron sent a detachment of their unarmed Meteor PR10 Recce jets to assist with the restoration of order. In addition XIII Squadron was responsible for surveying vast areas of the Middle East and Africa including Kenya, Somalia and the Aden Peninsula.

The deteriorating political relations between the West and Egypt during the build up to the Suez crisis in 1956 resulted in the Squadron's move to Akrotiri in Cyprus. During the same period the Squadron re-equipped with the larger, faster and higher flying Canberra PR7. The Squadron had little time to settle in to its new Station before it was back in action over the skies of its former home. The coordinated Anglo French Suez Operation from 31st October to 5th November 1956 saw the PR7s of XIII Squadron as the sole British allied Recce asset. The Squadron flew several sorties during from their base in Cyprus to assess the capability of the Egyptian Air Force. Several aircraft sustained damage due to enemy fire, resulting in the only friendly aircraft loss of the operation. On 6 Nov 1956, during the build up to the Suez Crisis RAF Canberra WH799 flown by Flight Lieutenant B L Hunter along with his Navigator Flying Officer Urquhart-Pullen and a third crewmember took off from Akrotiri in Cyprus for a photo-recce sortie. The purpose of the mission was to monitor an apparent build up of Soviet supplied combat aircraft in Syria. Unfortunately WH799 was shot down over Syria, either by a Mig 15 flown by a Soviet / Czechoslovakian pilot or by a Syrian Meteor NF-13 (supplied to Syria by Britain!). Sadly the Navigator was killed but the pilot and other crewmember survived and after treatment in Beirut Military Hospital, were later repatriated.

XIII Sqn remained in the Mediterranean for the next 20 years operating both from Akrotiri, Cyprus and latterly Luqa, Malta. The Canberra aircraft served the Squadron well and its PR9 variant remained in service until the Squadron's disbandment in 1982. The Canberra was capable of high-level flight that made the aircraft a capable asset during the dark days of the cold war. Amongst the Squadrons many achievements of the period was photographing the Russian aircraft carrier Kiev on her maiden transit thought the Western Mediterranean to meet up with the Soviet Mediterranean fleet. The images taken at this time were widely published throughout the world and still hang proudly in the Squadron today.

The Squadron was also involved in Humanitarian operations during a deployment to Italy on a training exercise in May 1979. A large earthquake struck the Udine area of Northern Italy and the Squadron offered its assistance to survey the damage, which was readily accepted by the Italian authorities. The images returned by XIII Squadron proved a significant aid to the rescue teams by allowing them to detect areas of unstable ground prone to further landslides.

XIII Sqn returned to the UK in 1978 and was based at RAF Wyton, where it remained until disbanded in 1982. The Squadron reformed at RAF Honington on 1 Jan 90 equipped with the reconnaissance variant of the Tornado, the GR1a. These aircraft were equipped with the new system of infrared sensors and video recorders. This system allowed the aircraft to carry out a full reconnaissance whilst still carrying as full range of offensive weapons.