 no. 29 squadron of the royal air force was first raised as a unit of the royal flying corps in 1915, and is one of the world's oldest fighter squadrons. the second british squadron to receive the eurofighter typhoon, it is currently the operational conversion unit (ocu) for the raf's newest fighter. ==history== ===service in world war i=== this unit was first raised as a reserve squadron, initially equipped with the royal aircraft factory b.e.2c, in november 1915. in early 1916 however no. 29 became the fourth squadron to receive the airco dh.2 "pusher" fighter, and was posted to france in march 1916 â helping to end the fokker scourge and establish allied air superiority in time for the battle of the somme. by late 1916 the dh.2 was outclassed by new german fighters, but no. 29 kept its pushers until march 1917, when it was re-equipped with nieuport 17s. these were replaced with later nieuport types, such as the nieuport 24bis, as these became available. due to a shortage of the royal aircraft factory s.e.5a the squadron retained its nieuports until april 1918, becoming possibly the last operational unit to operate âvee strutâ nieuport fighters. at this time the squadron finally received the s.e.
1915_establishments_in_the_United_Kingdom Military_units_and_formations_established_in_1915 Royal_Air_Force_aircraft_squadrons Royal_Flying_Corps_squadrons