page_title: No. 47 Squadron RAF
section_title: First formation
hierarchical_section_title: No. 47 Squadron RAF / History / First formation
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Armstrong-Whitworth FK3, Baunummer 6219. Der junge Pilot, 2nd Lt AC Stopher, landete irrtümlich auf dem bulgarischen Flugplatz Belitza , Thessaloniki-Front 1917 Български: Младият британски пилот лейтенант Стоуфър със своя самолет Армстронг-Уитуърт (Armstrong-Whitworth FK3 Nr. 6219), кацнал по грешка на българска територия, началото на 1917 г.
context_page_description: No. 47 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Lockheed C-130 Hercules from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, England.
context_section_description: No. 47 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was formed at Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire on 1 March 1916 as a home defence unit, protecting Hull and East Yorkshire against attack by German Zeppelins, being equipped with a mix of aircraft, including Armstrong Whitworth F.K.3s, FK.8s and Royal Aircraft Factory BE.12s. After six months training and flying defensive patrols, it was split up, with two flights joining 33 Squadron, and the remainder being sent to Salonika in Greece, to support forces fighting on the Macedonian Front, arriving on 20 September 1916.
  It retained a mixture of aircraft, with two flights being used for reconnaissance and bombing while the third flight operated fighters. When the German battlecruiser Goeben ran aground near outside the Dardanelles after the Battle of Imbros, three 47 Squadron aircraft were sent to attack the stranded ship. Despite continual attacks from these and other aircraft little damage was done to the Goeben owing to the light bombs used. On 1 April 1918, the Royal Flying Corps became part of the Royal Air Force, and the fighter flights (by now equipped with the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5A) of both 47 Squadron and No. 17 Squadron were detached to form 150 Squadron. 47 Squadron, now divested of its fighters, and solely equipped with Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8s, was used mainly in the Corps Reconnaissance role, but were used to bomb the retreating Bulgarian forces following the Allied offensive of September 1918.
  After the end of World War I, in April 1919, the squadron was sent to Southern Russia to help General Denikin's White Russian forces in their fight against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.  While the RAF's ostensible mission was purely to provide training to Denikin's forces, No. 47 Squadron was included in the mission in order to carry out operational sorties. It was equipped with a mixture of aircraft, with flights equipped with Airco DH.9 and DH.9A bombers and Sopwith Camel fighters. The squadron's flights operated independently, carrying out bombing and strafing missions against Bolshevik forces. One notable incident occurred on 30 July 1919, when, during an attack by C Flight DH.9s on Bolshevik gunboats at Tcherni-Yar, the DH.9 flown by William Elliot was shot down. On seeing this, the DH.9 flown by Captain Anderson, despite itself receiving damage that required his gunner, Lt Mitchell to climb onto the wing and block a leaking fuel tank with his thumb, landed next to the stricken aircraft to rescue its crew. Anderson and Mitchell were recommended for the Victoria Cross for this action, but in the end they were awarded the Distinguished Service Order. No. 47 Squadron was disbanded on 7 October 1919, being re-designated 'A' Squadron, Royal Air Force Instructional Mission, South Russia.
  Although it was not a fighter unit, the squadron did have at least two aces serve in it: Samuel Kinkead and Charles D. B. Green.
caption: Armstrong-Whitworth F.K.3 – as used by 47 squadron in Thessalonika
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