13-ші эскадрильяның тарихы және қазіргі жағдайы

Flying squadron of the Royal Air Force

Number 13 Squadron, also written as XIII Squadron, is a squadron of the Royal Air Force which operate the General Atomics MQ 9A Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle from RAF Waddington since reforming on 26 October 2012. The unit first formed as part of the Royal Flying Corps on 10 January 1915 and went on to fly the Martinsyde G.100, the Royal Aircraft Factory F. E.2, the SPAD VII and SPAD XIII, the Sopwith Dolphin during the First World War. In the Second World War it started out operating the Westland Lysander for army cooperation. From late 1942 it used Blenheims in North Africa but in 1943 squadron converted to Ventura for coastal patrols and convoy escort duties. Post war it operated Mosquito before transitioning to the new jet aircraft Gloster Meteor and English Electric Canberra for photoreconnaissance. From 1 January 1990, it operated the Panavia Tornado, initially the GR1A at RAF Honington and later the GR4/4A at RAF Marham where it temporarily disbanded on 13 May 2011.

The unit had reformed at RAF Kenley on 1 April 1924 and inter war years saw the squadron operate from various UK bases equipped with a variety of aircraft types including the Bristol F.2, Armstrong Whitworth Atlas, Hawker Audax and Hawker Hector for army cooperation. In May 1941 No. XIII Squadron changed role and theatre, flying a variety of bomber aircraft including the Bristol Blenheim and Douglas Boston light bombers in the Mediterranean until the end of the war, disbanding on 19 April 1946. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, the squadron flew reconnaissance flights over Syria from Cyprus, which resulted in one Canberra being shot down by the Syrian Air Force. In 1978, the squadron moved to RAF Wyton near Huntingdon in the UK, flying Canberra PR.7 and PR.9s, built by Short Brothers, until the unit disbanded on 1 January 1982. The majority of sorties were however, tasked into Central and Eastern Iraq to identify the disposition of the various Iraqi ground forces in preparation for the ground offensive. Although the rest of the Coalition Air Forces moved to medium level operations after the first few nights of the air war, the GR.1As operated at night and at low level for the duration of the conflict. The Squadron was also fundamental to the success of the Tornado/TIALD (Thermal Imaging And Laser Designation) combination. 4 XIII Squadron crews began the work up from mid January and, after encouraging results, four aircraft flew to Tabuk. After the war, the Squadron continued its peacetime training role at RAF Honington as well as taking part in Operation Jural, the monitoring of a No Fly Zone in the South of Iraq below the 32nd parallel north.

On 1 February 1994, No. XIII Squadron moved to RAF Marham. Since that time, the Squadron has taken part in a number of successful exercises around the world from Yuma in America to Penang, Malaysia. Deployments to operational theatres have continued to be a major feature of the squadron's life having deployed on Operation Warden and Operation Bolton to monitor both the Northern and Southern No Fly Zones in Iraq. XIII Squadron crews joined the Ali Al Salem Combat Air Wing (Composite RAF Squadron formed from the Tornado GR4 Force for Gulf War 2) in early 2003 and flew Scud Hunting missions in the Western Desert of Iraq during the Iraq War of 2003. The squadron also flew the last sortie by a Tornado in support of Operation Telic in 2009. In the summer of 2010 the squadron flew Close Air Support in Afghanistan as part of Operation Herrick, Subsequently, the Squadron flew the first remote operational mission from UK soil towards the end of April 2013 and conducted its first remote weapons strike a few days later. The squadron will re equip with Protector RG Mk1 when that comes into service around 2024.