74 (F) Squadron

I fear no man

Callsign :

Nato Tiger Association status : disbanded member

No.74 Squadron was first formed at Northolt on 1 July 1917 as No.74 (Training Depot) Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps (after amalgation with the Royal Naval Air Service this became the Royal Air Force in 1 April 1918).  Beginning life as a training unit, the squadron initially flew the Avro 504Ks, among other types, before working-up to a fighter squadron.

It reached front-line status in February 1918, becoming No.74 (Fighter) Squadron.  On 20 March 1918, the squadron received its first operational fighters, the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a.  No.74 (F) Squadron saw its first action on 12 April when it engaged in a dogfight near Merville, France.  Within 70 days of being on the continent, No.74 (F) Squadron had notched 100 enemy kills to just one loss.  The squadron served in France until February 1919 when it returned home, where it was disbanded on 3 July 1919.  During its 7-month-long wartime service, it was credited with 225 victories"140 enemy planes destroyed and 85 driven down out of control.

In response to the ongoing Abyssinia Crisis of 1935, the squadron was reformed in unusual circumstances on 3 September.  The squadron was reborn out of the combination of detachments of several squadrons, who were on board the troopship ship Neuralia, which was en-route to Malta.  After arrival, No.74 (F) Squadron operated Hawker Demon two-seater fighters.  While it had been officially re-established, the squadron was prohibited until 14 November 1935 from identifying its aircraft by squadron number due to security reasons; until then, it was referred to as 'Demon Flights'.

In July 1935, the squadron and its Demons, were shipped back to England, with the squadron arriving in September 1936.  In February 1937, after years of unofficial use, No.74 (F) Squadron had its squadron badge designed; a tiger's face, officially approved by King George VI.  'The Tigers' re-equipped with Gloster Gauntlets in April 1937, forming part of the newly created Fighter Command.  The Gauntlets were kept up until February 1939, when the squadron began converting to the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I.

The squadron first saw combat in May 1940 during the evacuation from Dunkirk, in battles which exacted a heavy toll on both pilots and aircraft.  Thereafter No.74 (F) Squadron served successfully through the Battle of Britain, being heavily involved throughout June and July.   In September 1940 the squadron replaced their Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Is with the Mk.Ia.   With the Battle of Britain won the squadron went to the north of England in July 1941 to regroup.  During this time, the Governor of Trinidad and Tobago, Sir Hubert Winthrop Young, made a presentation of Spitfires to No.74 (F) Squadron.  This subsequently led to 'the Tigers' being named the 'Trinidad Squadron', a name that lasted until the 1950s.

In April 1942 the Squadron was sent the Middle East, arriving in Egypt in June.  The ship carrying their aircraft they had been due to fly had been sunk leaving 'the Tigers' without anything to fly.  No.74 (F) Squadron was then moved to Palestine in July, where a decision was made for the squadron to operate as a maintenance unit for USAAF B-24 Liberators.  The squadron finally recovered its air capability in December 1942, when they received Hawker Hurricane Mk.IBS.  During this time, they operated from Iraq and Iran.  The squadron moved back to Egypt in May 1943 in order to carry out shipping patrols.  On 23 July, 'the Tigers' took part in a large offensive over Axis-occupied Crete, in which they attacked, among other targets, radio direction finder (RDF) stations and barracks.  The squadron converted back to Spitfires in September 1943, this time to Mk.VS and Mk.Vics, as they were transferred over to Cyprus to participate in the failed Dodecanese campaign (in early September 1943, invading German troops defeated both the Italian garrison in the Dodecanese and British forces sent to support them, aided by the fact that Allied units were operating without sufficient air cover.  Most of the Dodecanese islands fell to German forces within two months, resulting in one of Germany's last major victories during the conflict).  ‘The Tigers' withdrew back to Egypt, and in late October 1943, the squadron got Mk.IX Spitfires, which were swapped for Mk.XVIes in March 1944.

No.74 (F) Squadron returned home in April 1944.  They had arrived back just in time to participate in the buildup for Operation Overlord (the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944).  It was equipped with the Spitfire Mk.IX in Air Defence of Great Britain, though under the operational control of RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2nd TAF).  During this time, they attacked Axis railway yards and escorted Allied bombing raids on V-1 flying bomb launch sites in occupied France as part of D-Day preparations.  74 (F) left the UK for Sommervieu, Normandy in August 1944.  From here, they supported the Allied advance through France, Belgium, and the Netherlands as fighter-bombers.   In March 1945, the squadron received Spitfire Mk.Vis, which they operated alongside their Mk.Is.  On 16 April, 'the Tigers' were based at Drope in Germany.  From here they carried out reconnaissance missions.  It was while based here that No.74 (F) Squadron received news of Germany's surrender. 

The squadron finally left Germany on 11 May 1945.  Upon arrival back to England, No.74 (F) Squadron converted to their first jet aircraft; the Gloster Meteor F.3.  From December 1947 onward, the squadron began to re-equip with Meteor F.4s, completing conversion by March 1948.  In October 1950, the squadron received the much improved Meteor F.8.  From 1954 onward, the squadron's Meteors began to be camouflaged in dark green and dark sea grey, this coincidentally marked the return of 'tiger stripe' markings on the squadron's aircraft; something not seen since the Gloster Gauntlets.

After 12 years of flying Meteors, No.74 (F) Squadron converted to the Hawker Hunter F.4 in March 1957.  The Hunter F.4s wouldn't be operated for long, as the squadron started to re-equip with Hunter F.6s in November 1957, with the Hunter F.4s being phased out by January 1958.

'The Tigers' were re-equipment with the English Electric Lightning F.1 in June 1960; this was the first squadron in the RAF to receive the Lightning.  In 1962, No.74 (F) Squadron formed an aerobatic display team "The Tigers", replacing No. 92 Squadron's "Blue Diamonds" as the RAF's official display team.  March 1964 they got the Lightning F.3.  'The Tigers' upgraded to Lightning F.6s in November 1966, with the last Lightning F.3s remaining up until January 1967.  The squadron moved to Singapore in June 1967.  In 1971, the squadron flew its Lightning F.6s to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, to hand them over to No.56 (F) Squadron.

After a dormancy of 13 years, No.74 (Fighter) Squadron was reformed on 19 October 1984, with designated as the F-4J(UK), ex-US Navy General Electric J79-powered McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II acquired by the RAF in the wake of the Falklands conflict.  The squadron was declared operational capable on the Phantom on 31 December 1985.  74(F) operated their unique F-4J(UK)s up until January 1991, when they converted over to surplus Rolls-Royce Spey-engined F-4M, Phantom FGR.2s, which were available due to other squadrons converting to the Panavia Tornado F.3.

Plans had originally been for the RAF to retain two Phantom squadrons, 'the Tigers' and her sister No.56 (F) Squadron ('the Firebirds'), at RAF Wattisham, but with the end of the Cold War, these plans were shelved.  The disbanding of No.228 OCU at RAF Leuchars led to 'the Tigers' operating the 'Phantom Training Flight' between 1 February 1991 and 31 December 1991.  By August 1992, No. 56 (F) Squadron had relocated to RAF Coningsby; having stood down on 31 July, and became the Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) for the Tornado F.3, leaving 'the Tigers' as the RAF's last remaining Phantom squadron.

Throughout its last year, No.74 (F) Squadron flew an aerobatic display around the country, sporting colours of both 'the Tigers' and 'the Firebirds'.

On 5 October 1992, No.74 (Reserve) Squadron stood up with the British Aerospace Hawk T.1 as part of No. 4 Flying Training School (4 FTS) at RAF Valley in the weapon instruction role.  With the rationalisation of No.  4 FTS to just two squadrons, No.74 (R) Squadron was disbanded for the last time on 22 September 2000.

(all aircraft are to scale, not all drawings show an aircraft in 74 markings)

Aircraft

Avro 504K (July 1917 – March 1918)

Sopwith Pup/Scout (January 1918 – March 1918)

Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a (March 1918 – Februari 1919)

Hawker Demon Mk.I (September 1935 – April 1937)

Gloster Gladiator Mk.I (March 1937)

Gloster Gauntlet Mk.II (March 1937 – Februari 1939)

Miles Magister Mk.I (1938–1944)

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I (Februari 1939 – September 1940)

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IIb (June 1940 – December 1941)

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IIc (June 1940 – December 1941)

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb (May 1941 – March 1942)

Hawker Hurricane Mk.I (December 1942 – September 1943)

Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIb (December 1942 – September 1943)

Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIc (December 1942 – September 1943)

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb (September 1943 – April 1944)

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc (September 1943 – April 1944)

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX (October 1943 – April 1944)

Supermarine Spitfire LF.IXe (April 1944 – March 1945)

Supermarine Spitfire LF.XVIe (March 1945 – May 1945)

Gloster Meteor F.3 (May 1945 – March 1948)

Gloster Meteor F.4 (December 1947 – October 1950)

Gloster Meteor T.7 (1950–1957)

Gloster Meteor F.8 (October 1950 – March 1957)

Hawker Hunter F.4 (March 1957 – January 1958)

Hawker Hunter F.6 (November 1957–1960)

Hawker Hunter T.7 (1958–1966)

English Electric Lightning F.1 (June 1960 – April 1964)

English Electric Lightning F.1a (June 1960 – April 1964)

English Electric Lightning T.4 (1961–1966)

English Electric Lightning F.3 (April 1964 – September 1967)

English Electric Lightning F.6 (June 1966 – August 1971)

English Electric Lightning T.5 (June 1967 – August 1971)

McDonnell Douglas F-4J(UK) Phantom (August 1984 – January 1991)

McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.2 (January 1991 – October 1992)

British Aerospace Hawk T.1 (October 1992 – September 2000)

British Aerospace Hawk T.1A (October 1992 – September 2000)

No.74 (F) Squadron, 1937-1952

No.74 (F) Squadron, 1952-2000

Fighter Command

Second Tactical Air Force

No.56 (F) Squadron

No. 92 Squadron

No.228 Operational Conversion Unit

No.4 Flying Training School

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text & picture sources : own collection & library + the world wide web / No copyright infringement intended : drawings, photos, etc. belong to the rightful owners.