page_title: No. 5 Wing RAF
section_title: Middle East
hierarchical_section_title: No. 5 Wing RAF / World War I / Middle East
caption_attribution_description: Español: Aeródromo de Ismailía en 1916. English: BE 2C two-seater aircraft outside the hangars on Ismailia Aerodrome.
context_page_description: No. 5 Wing of the Royal Air Force was a wing of aircraft squadrons which was originally established as the Fifth Wing of the Royal Flying Corps. Currently inactive, the wing has been formed and disbanded five times over the course of its history.
context_section_description: In November 1915 the 5th Wing, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel W. G. H. Salmond arrived in the Middle East.  At this time it consisted of No. 14 Squadron, No. 17 Squadron and an aircraft park.  Between June 1916 and October 1917, No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps – which was known as 67 Squadron in British military circles (to avoid confusion with similarly named RFC and RNAS units) – was also part of the wing.
  In February 1916, 5th Wing HQ was at Ismailia, with auxiliary aerodromes for Nos 14 and 17 Squadrons (flying mostly BE2c aircraft) at Heliopolis, El Qantara and Suez. X Aircraft Park for repair and supply was at  Abbasia. Unusually, the Qantara flight of No. 14 Sqn was made self-sufficient by being given 80 camels to transport petrol, and a number of sand carts for hauling tents and aircraft spares.
  At the opening of the Second Battle of Gaza (19 April 1917), 5th Wing was disposed as follows:
  Wing HQ at Rafah
  Advanced HQ at Deir al-Balah
  No 14 Sqn, HQ and A Flight at Rafah
  B Flight at Deir el Balah
  No 67 Sqn, AFC, at Rafah
  X Aircraft Park at Abbasia
  Advanced Aircraft Park at El Qantara
  The wing had 25 aircraft at its disposal: 17 BE2s and 8 Martinsydes. A further 5 aircraft were detached to Arabia. Although the Martinsydes were the best fighting machines available, they were prone to overheating in the hot climate, and were inferior to the two German Halberstadts that had caused several casualties during the First Battle of Gaza.
  In October 1917, before the Third Battle of Gaza, 5th Wing consisted of Nos 14 (16 BE2e) and 113 Sqn (8 BE2e, 5 RE8) and was now under the command of Palestine Brigade, RFC. In September 1918, at the time of the victory of Megiddo, it comprised:
  Wing HQ at Er-Ramleh
  No 14 Sqn at Junction Station – 16 RE8s, 3 Nieuport Scouts
  No 113 Sqn at Sarona – 16 RE8s, 5 Nieuports
  No 142 Sqn at Sarona – 7 Armstrong-Whitworth F.K.8s
  Detached flight at Jerusalem – 5 RE8s
  When hostilities ended the Fifth Wing was headquartered at RAF Ramleh in Palestine. The 5th Wing was disbanded on 1 April 1920.
caption: BE2cs at Ismailia aerodrome.
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