No. 87 Squadron RAF was an aircraft squadron of the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 during the First World War and Second World War.

World War I

87 Squadron Royal Flying Corps

Royal Flying Corps

The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

 (RFC) was first formed on 1 September 1917 at Upavon

RAF Upavon

The former Royal Air Force Station Upavon, more commonly known as RAF Upavon, was a grass airfield, military flight training school, and administrative headquarters of the Royal Air Force....

 from elements of the Central Flying School. On 17 December 1917, it moved to Hounslow Heath Aerodrome

Hounslow Heath Aerodrome

Hounslow Heath Aerodrome was a grass airfield, operational 1914-1920. It was situated in the London borough of Hounslow, and in 1919 was the location from which the first scheduled daily international commercial air services took place.-1909-1914:...

 and was equipped with Sopwith Dolphins and S.E.5As, moving on to France in April 1918. After the armistice, the squadron moved back to England and was disbanded at RAF Ternhill

RAF Ternhill

RAF Ternhill is a small Royal Air Force station at Ternhill in Shropshire, near the towns of Newport and Market Drayton. The station, home of Volunteer Gliding Squadron 632, was a helicopter base but is now principally used as an outpost for the tri-service helicopter training establishment at RAF...

 on the 24 June 1919. The squadron did have seven aces on this type, in Arthur Vigers

Arthur Vigers

Captain Arthur Whitehair Vigers was a World War I flying ace credited with 14 aerial victories. He was the third ranking of the 27 aces who flew the Sopwith Dolphin....

 DFC, future Air Chief Marshal

Air Chief Marshal

Air chief marshal is a senior 4-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...

 Leslie Hollinghurst, Henry Biziou

Henry Biziou

Captain Henry Arthur Richard Biziou was a World War I flying ace credited with eight aerial victories.-Early life:Henry Arthur Richard Biziou was born on 18 September 1896, birthplace unknown...

, Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin (aviator)

Major Charles John Wharton Darwin was a First World War flying ace credited with five aerial victories.Darwin was the son of Col. Charles Waring Darwin CB DL JP of Elston Hall and his wife Mary Dorothea , the only daughter of the Rt Hon. John Lloyd Wharton...

, Herbert Joseph Larkin

Herbert Joseph Larkin

Captain Herbert Joseph Larkin was an Australian-born British World War I flying ace credited with 11 confirmed victories. Postwar he became a pioneering aviator and aircraft manufacturer in his native Australia. He returned to his nation's service for World War II...

, Alexander Pentland

Alexander Pentland

Alexander Augustus Norman Dudley Pentland MC, DFC, AFC , known as "Jerry" Pentland, was an Australian fighter ace in World War I. Born in Maitland, New South Wales, he commenced service as a Lighthorseman with the Australian Imperial Force in 1915, and saw action at Gallipoli...

, and Charles Edward Worthington.

World War II

87 Squadron was re-formed on 15 March 1937 at RAF Tangmere

RAF Tangmere

RAF Tangmere was a Royal Air Force station famous for its role in the Battle of Britain, located at Tangmere village about 3 miles east of Chichester in West Sussex, England. American RAF pilot Billy Fiske died at Tangmere and was the first American aviator to die during World War II...

 from elements of No. 54 Squadron RAF, operating the Hawker Fury

Hawker Fury

The Hawker Fury was a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was originally named the Hornet and was the counterpart to the Hawker Hart light bomber.-Design and development:...

. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the squadron was part of the air element of the British Expeditionary Force in France, equipped with Hawker Hurricane

Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...

s.

The Cold War

87 Squadron was again re-formed as part of the 2nd Tactical Air Force in Germany on 1 January 1952 at RAF Wahn with the Gloster Meteor NF11, with the main tasking being the defence of the Ruhr, after five years it moved to RAF Bruggen

RAF Bruggen

The former Royal Air Force Station Brüggen, more commonly known as RAF Brüggen, in Germany was a major station of the Royal Air Force until 15 June 2001. It was situated next to the village of Elmpt, approximately west of Düsseldorf near the German-Netherlands border. The base was named after...

, and was equipped with the Gloster Javelin

Gloster Javelin

The Gloster Javelin was an "all-weather" interceptor aircraft that served with Britain's Royal Air Force in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s...

 as an all-weather interceptor force until it was disbanded on 3 January 1961.

Aircraft

Dates	Aircraft	Variant	Notes
1917–1919	Sopwith Dolphin		Single-engined piston biplane fighter
1937-1937	Hawker Fury Hawker Fury The Hawker Fury was a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was originally named the Hornet and was the counterpart to the Hawker Hart light bomber.-Design and development:...	II	Single-engined piston biplane fighter
1937–1938	Gloster Gladiator Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator was a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. It was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it...	I	Single-engined piston biplane fighter
1938–1942	Hawker Hurricane Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...	I	Single-engined piston monoplane fighter
1941–1944	Hawker Hurricane	IIC
1943–1944	Supermarine Spitfire Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...	IX, VB, VC VIII	Single-engined piston monoplane fighter
1944–1946	Supermarine Spitfire	IX
1952–1957	Gloster Meteor Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' first operational jet. It first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with 616 Squadron of the Royal Air Force...	NF11	Twin-engined jet night fighter
1957–1961	Gloster Javelin Gloster Javelin The Gloster Javelin was an "all-weather" interceptor aircraft that served with Britain's Royal Air Force in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s...	FAW1	Twin-engined jet fighter
1958–1960	Gloster Javelin	FAW5
1959–1961	Gloster Javelin	FAW4