Thursday 2nd August 2018 was an historical day for 1F (City of Leicester) Squadron. For some time, the squadron have been trying to re-develop old links with No.1 (Fighter) Squadron who are currently based in the far north of Scotland at RAF Lossiemouth where they fly the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.
Apart from the 1F squadron number, the two squadrons are similar in the sense that they are both older than the organisations they currently belong to. 1F (City of Leicester) Squadron, Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC), were formed in 1938 as the founder squadron for the Air Defence Cadet Corps, and they became the founding member of the Air Training Corps when it was formed on 5th February 1941. No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron’s origins go back to 1878 when its predecessor, No.1 Balloon Company was formed, which was later redesignated No.1 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps on 13th May 1912. They were then incorporated into the Royal Air Force when it was formed on 1st April 1918.
1F (City of Leicester) Squadron have previously maintained links with No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron when they were a Harrier squadron based at RAF Wittering. In 2012 cadets from the squadron were invited to form a guard of honour with the squadron’s Corps of Drums for veterans of No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron at a reunion held at RAF Wittering.
The re-connection of links between the two units was established whilst Sergeant Carol Robinson RAFAC was attending an RAFAC Annual Camp at RAF Lossiemouth in August of this year. She met with Squadron Leader Michael Mason of No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron and presented him with a squadron plaque on behalf of the staff and cadets. We hope this initial step will lead to renewed ties between the two squadrons despite the distance.