RAF Regiment Museum | Pictures from RAF Honnington

The RAF Regiment From WWII to the Present Day

The Royal Air Force Regiment Museum
RAF Regiment Depot Honnington

These Pictures where taken by me on 15 April 2004, I would like to thank SWO Ray Kidd for his assistance and help in opening the Museum, and to the lone Gunner who had to standby whilst I wondered around taking pictures. Without these guys this page would not have been possible......Glen Beavis

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The first RAF Regt depot opened at Belton Park near Grantham with instructional staff loaned from by the Army and the Royal Marines.

Sqn's quickly evolved into two distinct roles , The Field (Infantry) Sqn's and Independent AA Flights. By the end of 1942 the RAF Regiment not only relieved Army Garrisons from Airfields in the UK , but had seen active service in Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, Burma, and West Africa.

A Second training depot was opened at Secunderabad in India. 5 Field Sqn's and 5 AA flights disembarked during Operation "Torch" the Allied invasion of Tunisia, and such was the dash and spirit of the fledgling units that they were the first to enter Bizerta and Tunis itself.

RAF Catterick was the depot and home of the RAF Regiment from 1946 after it moved from Belton Park. However in 1994 it was handed over the the Army and to The Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire. RAF Honnington is now the RAF Regt's Depot

The Smith Gun

Entered Service with the RAF Regt in 1942 and was designed by Mr Smith (Chief Engineer)of Trianco (The Toy Company). The Smooth bore gun fired a cast iron exploding projectile or a 3 inch mortar bomb. The Smith Gun was never fired in anger by The RAF Regt and was obsolete by 1945.

Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance Tracked (CVRT)

In the early 80's units using CVRT 1 Sqn (Laarbruch Germany), 2 Sqn and 15 Sqn (Both Hullavington), 51 Sqn and 58 Sqn (Both Catterick) and 34 Sqn (Cyprus)

1 & 2 Scorpion (CVRT) Crew of 3, Commander, Gunner, Driver. Armament 76mm Gun Main Gun, 7.62 mm Machine Gun.

3: Spartan (CVRT) Crew of 7 , Driver, Section Commander, Vehicle Commander, 4 infantry men including signaller, Spartan was fitted with a 7.62mm Cappola Machine Gun

2 Sqn RAF Regt Display

"Never Unprepared"

Battle Honours Egypt & Libya 1940-43, Iraq 1941, Syria 1941

El Alamein North Africa

2 Sqn are The RAF Regiment's Airborne Squadron Since 1962. The RAF Regt had lost its Airborne capability in 1949 but in 1962 2 Sqn was chosen to be The Regt's Airborne Sqn.

"When the Fighting starts the first thing we do is drop in our defences"

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The Rolls Royce Armoured Car,

1920 Standard Type A, wich used the .303 Machine Gun on top of the turret

In the late 1930's a Lewis machine gun was added for AA defence

In service for Nos 1-6 Armoured Car Companies from 1921, by 1940 most had been phased out apart from No 1 Armoured Car Company until 1943 and was used in the Middle East from Egypt to Iraq

Bofors 40mm

In May 1943 LAA Squadrons started to get re equipped with the Bofors 40mm Guns to replace the 20mm Hispanos and and twin browning Machine guns for Air Defence

Before Bofors were issued to the RAF Regiment many LAA Sqn's used the 20mm Hispanos mounted on Anti Aircraft mountings, however these were prone to many failures including self Destructing Ammunition .

The 40/70 LAA Bofors Gun

One of the many Variants of the Bofors Gun used by the RAF Regiment

40/70 LAA Gun One of the type of Bofors used in Belize after Britain was accused of moving Missiles (the Tigercat) into central America. This just after the Cuban Missile Crisis

Tiger Cat
In 1968 48 Sqn was selected to use the Tigercat as a sales platform instead of the Rapier system and in 1972 48 Sqn deployed to Belize due to a threat from Guatemala. and in 1977 48 Sqn again where deployed to Belize

The RAF Regiment.net web © site and The RAF Regiment from 1984 © Web site have been created by Glen Beavis, both sites contain pictures and information gathered from many sources, including my own personal knowledge.

Where possible I have given credit to the originators of the information, if I have infringed any copyright laws then please contact me.