#1614CU A400M Atlas
Description
Squadron Prints Lithograph No. 1614CU - ZM402, A400M Atlas, XXIV Squadron, RAF Brize Norton.
XXIV Squadron formed at Hounslow Heath on 1 September 1915 and, after training, moved to France in February 1916 its DH 2s being the first of the type on the Western Front. It re-equipped with DH 5s in May 1917 and SE 5As in December 1917. The Squadron flew fighter and ground-attack missions during the war and returned to the UK in February 1919 disbanding at Uxbridge on 1 February 1920. Inactivity was short lived when the Squadron reformed on 1 April 1920 at Kenley as a communications and training unit. It was initially equipped with Bristol Fighters but gained a wide selection of aircraft over the following 24 years. It moved to Northolt in January 1927 and to Hendon in July 1933 and flew such types as Wapiti, Fairey IIIF, Audax, Tomtit, Tutor, Hart, Flamingo, Ensign, Proctor, Anson, Oxford, Tiger Moth, Magister, DH 86, DH 89A, Wellington and Dakota. Early in WWII it received many of the civilian aircraft impressed into the RAF, which were used for general communications work on the Continent and later within the UK. The smaller aircraft were acquired by the newly formed No. 510 Squadron whilst XXIV Squadron concentrated on longer distance route flying. By 1943 it had received Yorks to add to the work already being done by the Dakotas although this aircraft type was temporarily phased out of XXIV Squadron service to operate with No. 512 Squadron. Dakotas returned in February 1944 and soon almost fully equipped the Squadron. In 1945, the Squadron became a VIP transport unit and moved to Bassingbourn in February 1946 where it acquired Lancastrians in June. A move to Waterbeach in June 1949 was quickly followed by a move to Lyneham in November 1950 where Hastings aircraft were received the following month. The Hastings aircraft became the standard equipment for the next 18 years and was flown worldwide on the many and varied transport duties within the RAF. The Squadron moved to Topcliffe in February 1951, Abingdon in May 1953 and Colerne in January 1957 before conversion to the Lockheed C-130K Hercules took place and this coincided with a move back to Lyneham on 9 February 1968. The new C-130J Hercules C4 aircraft began to arrive in November 1999 supplementing the existing C1 and C3 models. On 1 July 2011, XXIV Squadron and the Air Mobility Force moved from Lyneham to Brize Norton to begin its new role as the Fixed Wing Air Mobility OCU. Expanding quickly, C17 Maintenance Training School (formally VC10 and Tristar Maintenance Training School) was integrated into XXIV Squadron in September 2012. On 7 May 2014 the A400M Atlas Training Schoolhouse was opened ahead of the aircraft delivery which happened in November 2014. Since receiving the Hercules aircraft in 1968, the Squadron has been involved in all the major operations throughout the world in both military and humanitarian roles. In particular its efforts in the Falklands, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya campaigns were most significant. Today, and having flown more aircraft types than any other RAF Squadron, XXIV Squadron is the most diverse Squadron at RAF Brize Norton generating and sustaining the training required for the aircrew and maintainers of the C130J Hercules, A400M Atlas and C17 Globemaster frontline squadrons. In Omnia Parati.
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