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42-623: An example of an OCU is No. 29 Squadron RAF , which was the second RAF squadron to receive the Eurofighter Typhoon . The Royal Australian Air Force has a number of OCUs. These include No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit , No. 6 Squadron and No. 292 Squadron . These units are responsible for converting aircrews to the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II , F/A-18F Super Hornet and Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft, respectively. No. 42 Squadron RNZAF Is

84-568: A buzzard, symbolising air combat. The motto in Latin is Impiger et acer - 'Energetic and keen'. Since the late 1920s, the squadron marking has been three (red) Xs (XXX). Since this closely resembles the Roman numeral for "29" (XXIX) there is a belief among current squadron personnel that this originated as a "misspelling" of the Roman numeral. Although various versions of the tradition are put forward,

126-953: A forced landing on the Allied front lines. Barker was awarded the Victoria Cross for this action. The fuselage of this Snipe is preserved at the Canadian War Museum , Ottawa, Ontario. Following the Armistice with Germany that ended the First World War, Sopwith Snipes formed part of the British Army of Occupation , returning to the United Kingdom in August/September 1919, while Snipes replaced Camels in four home defence squadrons based in

168-712: A private venture in September 1917. This took advantage of a licence that had been granted to allow construction of four Sopwith Rhino bomber prototypes, only two of which were built. The first prototype Snipe, powered by a Bentley AR.1 rotary engine was completed in October 1917. The second prototype was completed with the new, more powerful Bentley BR.2 , engine, which gave 230 hp (170 kW) in November 1917. This promised better performance and prompted an official contract for six prototypes to be placed, including

210-721: A suitable geometric shape that were shortened to three to fit the smaller space on the Armstrong Whitworth Siskin . Sopwith Snipe The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe is a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War , and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of the conflict, in late 1918. The Snipe

252-429: A two-seater German aircraft and swiftly shot it down. However, he was soon attacked by a formation of at least 15 Fokker D.VIIs, an aircraft widely considered to be the best operational German fighter of the First World War. The ensuing melee was observed by many Allied troops. In the engagement, he was wounded three times, twice losing consciousness momentarily, but managing to shoot down at least three D.VIIs before making

294-780: The Armstrong Whitworth Siskin IIIA in March 1928 and Bristol Bulldogs in June 1932. In March 1935, nearly twenty years after it was first raised as a single-seat fighter squadron, the squadron received two-seater Hawker Demons , which it operated until 1938. This included service in Egypt from October 1935 to 1936, during the Abyssinian crisis . As part of the Royal Air Force’s modernisation and expansion in

336-581: The Forêt de Mormal in France. Barker's Snipe (No. E8102 ) had been brought with him for personal evaluation purposes in connection with his UK-based training duties and was therefore operationally a "one-off". The engagement with enemy aircraft occurred at the end of a two-week posting to renew his combat experience as Barker was returning to the UK. While on his last operation over the battlefields of France, he attacked

378-710: The McDonnell F-4 Phantom and moved to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire . In May 1982, a detachment of 3 Phantom FGR2’s were deployed at Wideawake airstrip on Ascension Island during the Falklands War . On completion of repairs to the runway at Stanley in August 1982, the squadron deployed 10 aircraft south to the islands, the first arriving on 17 October 1982 flown by the then officer commanding Wing Commander Ian Macfadyen . In 1987, 29 Squadron

420-673: The Nieuport 24bis , as these became available. Due to a shortage of the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a the squadron retained its Nieuports until April 1918. At this time the squadron finally received the S.E.5a, which it retained for the rest of the war. The award of a Victoria Cross – the highest award for valour "in the face of the enemy" in the British Empire – to Captain James McCudden of 29 Squadron

462-851: The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome , in Rhinebeck, New York . It passed to the NASM after Cole Palen 's death in December 1993. The fuselage (minus landing gear, engine and cowl) of Major William G. Barker's Snipe, E8102 is on display at the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa. Antique Aero in California has completed construction of an airworthy, very detailed reproduction Sopwith Snipe. It awaits a new-build 230 h.p. Bentley B.R.2 engine. Another Snipe reproduction marked as E8102

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504-568: The Royal Air Force was first raised as a unit of the Royal Flying Corps in 1915, and is one of the world's oldest fighter squadrons. The second British squadron to receive the Eurofighter Typhoon , it is currently the operational conversion unit (OCU) for the Typhoon. This unit was first raised as a reserve squadron, initially equipped with the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c , in November 1915. In early 1916 however No. 29 became

546-572: The Sopwith Camel . The design, called Snipe by Sopwith, was in its initial form a single- bay biplane , slightly smaller than the Camel and intended to be powered by similar engines. The pilot sat higher than in the Camel while the centre-section of the upper wing was uncovered, giving a better view from the cockpit. Armament was to be two Vickers machine guns . In the absence of an official order, Sopwith began construction of two prototypes as

588-558: The Sopwith Salamander . In March 1918, an example was evaluated by No.1 Aeroplane Supply Depot (No.1 ASD) at St-Omer in France. Lieutenant L. N. Hollinghurst (later an ace in Sopwith Dolphins , and an air chief marshal ) flew to 24,000 ft in 45 minutes. He stated that the aircraft was tail heavy and had "a very poor rudder", but that otherwise manoeuvrability was good. The first squadron to equip with

630-508: The cowling and it was also able to carry up to four 25 lb (11 kg) bombs for ground attack work, identical to the Camel's armament. The design allowed for a Lewis gun to be mounted on the centre section in a similar manner to those carried by the Dolphin - in the event this was not fitted to production aircraft. Production began in 1918, with more than 4,500 being ordered. Production ended in 1919, with just under 500 being built,

672-475: The 1930s squadron marking was nothing to do with Roman numerals, but was a reference to the brewers' mark for "extra strong" , frequently applied to kegs of beer, and that it is only a coincidence that this resembles the numeral for "29" (XXIX). However, as the original squadron markings on the Gloster Grebe consisted of FOUR Xs, it is likely both versions above are apocryphal, and the four Xs were just

714-684: The Australians had more success, claiming five victories on 26 October and six on 28 October, while on 29 October, 4 Squadron claimed eight Fokker D.VIIs destroyed and two more driven down out of control for the loss of one of 15 Snipes. No. 208 Squadron RAF converted from Camels in November, too late for the Snipes to see action. One of the most famous incidents in which the Snipe was involved occurred on 27 October 1918 when Canadian Major William Barker attached to No. 201 Squadron RAF flew over

756-618: The Bolsheviks and pressed into service. Two squadrons of Snipes ( 25 and 56 ) were deployed to Turkey in response to the Chanak Crisis in September 1922, flying demonstration flights over Constantinople to deter Turkish forces from attacking British forces in the Dardanelles . No. 1 Squadron was deployed to Iraq in 1922, flying ground attack missions against rebelling Kurdish tribesmen led by Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji until

798-749: The Snipe after the war, but it was phased out in 1923, a year before the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was formed. Two complete, original, Sopwith Snipes survive. E6938 is displayed in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa . Formerly owned by film star Reginald Denny , it was restored in the 1960s. E8105 is exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Previously, it had been at

840-564: The Snipe and relying on a French engine that was in short supply (the 300 hp (220 kW) Hispano-Suiza 8 ), while the range of fighters powered by the ABC Dragonfly radial engine did not come to fruition owing to failure of that engine. Snipes remained in squadron service as a fighter with the RAF until 1926, and was used as a trainer by the RAF until 1927. It was declared obsolete in 1928. The Canadian Air Force (CAF) operated

882-473: The Snipe during the war and postwar. The Snipe was built around the Bentley BR2 engine - the last rotary to be used by the RAF. It had a maximum speed of 121 mph (195 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) compared with the Camel's 115 mph (185 km/h) at the same altitude and an endurance of three hours. Its fixed armament consisted of two 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns on

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924-708: The United Kingdom. This force was quickly run down, however, and by the end of 1919, only a single squadron, No 80 was equipped with the Snipe. In 1919, the Snipe took part in the Allied intervention on the side of the White Russians during the Russian Civil War against the Bolsheviks , twelve Snipes being used by the RAF mission in north Russia. At least one of the RAF Snipes was captured by

966-705: The fourth squadron to receive the Airco DH.2 "pusher" fighter, and arrived in France on 25 March 1916 – helping to end the Fokker Scourge and establish Allied air superiority in time for the Battle of the Somme . By late 1916 the DH.2 was outclassed by new German fighters , but No. 29 kept its pushers until March 1917, when it was re-equipped with Nieuport 17s . These were replaced with later Nieuport types, such as

1008-479: The late 1930s, No. 29 received Bristol Blenheim IF heavy fighters in December 1938. No 29 began the Second World War with its Blenheims, which at the period operated as day fighters – especially on convoy protection patrols. From June 1940 it became a night fighter squadron, receiving some of the first Beaufighters in November, though it was February 1941 before the squadron was fully equipped with

1050-400: The most common explanation is that a mis-understood instruction to ground crew to paint "2 X's in front of the roundel and IX behind it" meaning "X,X,(roundel), and 'IX' or 'one-X'" resulted in "XX(roundel)'one times' X". In fact, the marking was always applied as "XXX(roundel)XXX" or as "XXX(roundel)" on smaller types, such as Siskins. Another version is that the original adoption of "XXX" for

1092-412: The new fighter was No. 43 Squadron , based at Fienvillers in France, which replaced its Camels with 15 Snipes on 30 August 1918. After spending much of September training, it flew its first operational patrols equipped with the Snipe on 24 September. The Snipe also saw service with No. 4 Squadron Australian Flying Corps (AFC) from October 1918. While 43 Squadron's Snipes saw relatively little combat,

1134-534: The new fighter. Various marks of the de Havilland Mosquito were flown by the squadron from May 1943 culminating in the Mosquito NF30. During the immediate post-war years the squadron remained a night/all weather fighter unit. The Mosquitoes continued to serve until replaced by Gloster Meteor NF11s in August 1951. In November 1957 the squadron moved to RAF Acklington in Northumberland where it

1176-689: The only OCU in the Royal New Zealand Air Force . It flies the RNZAF's 4 Beechcraft Super King Air B200 in a Twin Engine conversion role. Until 2001 the RNZAF had No. 2 Squadron RNZAF . It flew the TA-4K Skyhawk in a Fighter Conversion Role but was mothballed along with the rest of the RNZAF's Air Combat Wing in 2001. Royal Air Force OCUs have their origins in the post-war period. Before the Second World War , operational training

1218-657: The pilot to aid operation at high altitude. The Snipe was tested against three other fighter prototypes, all powered by the Bentley BR.2 engine: the Austin Osprey triplane , the Boulton & Paul Bobolink and the Nieuport B.N.1 . While there was little difference in performance between the aircraft, the Sopwith was selected for production, with orders for 1,700 Snipes placed in March 1918. The Snipe's structure

1260-574: The rest being cancelled due to the end of the war. There was only one variant, the Snipe I , with production by several companies including Sopwith, Boulton & Paul Ltd , Coventry Ordnance Works , D. Napier & Son , Nieuport and Ruston, Proctor and Company . Two aircraft were re-engined with a 320 hp (240 kW) ABC Dragonfly radial engine and these entered production as the Sopwith Dragon . An armoured version entered production as

1302-551: The squadron was disbanded in November 1926. Although the performance demonstrated by the Snipe was unimpressive (tests at Martlesham Heath in October 1918 had shown that the Snipe was inferior to the Martinsyde F.3 and Fokker D.VII ), it was selected as the standard postwar single-seat fighter of the RAF almost by default, with the Martinsyde Buzzard development of the F.3 being 25 per cent more expensive than

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1344-410: The two aircraft built as private ventures. The third prototype to fly, serial number B9965 , had modified wings, with a wider centre-section and a smaller cut-out for the pilot, while the fuselage had a fully circular section, rather than the slab-sided one of the first two aircraft and the tail was smaller. It was officially tested in December 1917, reaching a speed of 119 mph (192 km/h) and

1386-767: Was built by Richard Lincoln Day of Colonia, NJ. This Snipe, marked as E6837 , flew for one summer at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, in Rhinebeck, NY before being purchased by Doug Champlin for his collection in Mesa, Arizona. This collection was later donated to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington. Tyabb Airport in Victoria, Australia, hosts a reproduction snipe VH-SNP E8050 . The aircraft first flew on

1428-719: Was built in New Zealand by The Vintage Aviator Ltd., and was subsequently purchased by Kermit Weeks for his Fantasy of Flight aviation museum in Polk City, Florida. This is airworthy and uses an original Bentley rotary engine. The RAF Museum in August 2012 took delivery of a static display reproduction of the Snipe. Marked E6655 , it was constructed in the Wellington workshops of The Vintage Aviator Ltd. in New Zealand. The inclusion of original, non-airworthy parts precludes this aircraft from flight status. The first reproduction

1470-429: Was carried out in the squadron itself. With the coming of war, this method of training was no longer possible and some squadrons were reassigned to training duties. These were later renamed as "operational training units" (OTU) and in practice were larger than operational squadrons. This military aviation article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . No. 29 Squadron RAF No. 29 Squadron of

1512-419: Was gazetted on 2 April 1918, for McCudden's "conspicuous bravery, exceptional perseverance and a high devotion to duty", between August 1917 and March 1918. October 1918 was a bitter month for the squadron; an American volunteer, Lieutenant Joseph Patrick Murphy was the first to fall on 8 October and become a prisoner of war . British Ace Claude Melnot Wilson was next to fall, on 14 October and Guy Wareing

1554-458: Was heavier but much stronger than earlier Sopwith fighters. Although not a fast aircraft for 1918, it was very manoeuvrable and much easier to handle than the Camel, with a superior view from the cockpit - especially forwards and upwards. The Snipe also had a superior rate of climb and much better high-altitude performance compared with its predecessor, allowing it to fight Germany's newer fighters on more equal terms. Further modifications were made to

1596-505: Was not a fast aircraft by the standards of its time, but its excellent climb and manoeuvrability made it a good match for contemporary German fighters. It was selected as the standard postwar single-seat RAF fighter and the last examples were not retired until 1926. In April 1917, Herbert Smith , the chief designer of the Sopwith Company, began to design a fighter intended to be the replacement for Sopwith's most famous aeroplane,

1638-441: Was one of the first RAF units to receive the Tornado F3 , deploying to Saudi Arabia after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and participating in Operation Desert Storm . No. 29 flew the Tornado until disbanding in 1998, as part of the Strategic Defence Review . The squadron was reformed in 2003, this time as the Typhoon operational conversion unit (OCU). The badge of the squadron shows an eagle in flight preying on

1680-516: Was re-equipped with Gloster Javelins . In July 1958 to RAF Leuchars in Scotland. In February 1963 No 29 moved to Cyprus and in December 1965 went to Ndola in Zambia for nine months on detachment during the Rhodesian crisis . A single aircraft was written off when all undercarriage legs failed to come down on 2 June 1966. From May 1967 the squadron operated the English Electric Lightning F.3 based at RAF Wattisham near Stowmarket in Suffolk until December 1974 when they re-equipped with

1722-504: Was shot down on the 27 October. After a short period with the army of occupation in Germany, the Squadron returned to the UK in August 1919 and was disbanded on 31 December 1919. The squadron ended the war having claimed 385 victories. Apart from those already mentioned, the 26 aces who served with the squadron included: The squadron was reformed on 1 April 1923, initially equipped with Sopwith Snipes . These were replaced by Gloster Grebes in January 1925, In turn, these were replaced by

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1764-545: Was then rebuilt with longer-span [30 ft (9.1 m)] two-bay wings (compared with the 25 ft (7.6 m) single bay wings). This allowed the Snipe to compete for Air Board Specification A.1(a) for a high-altitude single-seat fighter. This specification required a speed of at least 135 mph (217 km/h) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m) and a ceiling of at least 25,000 ft (7,600 m) while carrying an armament of two fixed and one swivelling machine gun. An oxygen supply and heated clothing were to be provided for

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