1Sqn
Badge:The numeral "1" winged
Motto: In omnibus princeps (First in all things)
1Sqn's North East history
1Sqn arrived at Acklington from Tangmere in summer 1942 with their Hurricane II’s. The squadron had already played a major part in World War Two, being involved in both the Battle of France and Battle of Britain before becoming a night-fighter squadron performing intruder patrols over France. They used the relatively peace and tranquillity of the North East to convert to Typhoon Ib aircraft and by the end of July 1942 most of the new aircraft had arrived.
Though enemy activity was far less
than the squadron had experienced so far, pilots did see some action and encounter problems. On September 5th 1942,
Sergeant A. E. Pearce (RAAF) had to make a crash landing in Typhoon R8690 near to RAF Longtown,
Cumberland after the aircraft connecting rod (the component that
connects the piston to the crankshaft) broke. Fortunately Pearce managed to
escape with minor bruises before the aircraft burst into flames.
The next day, flight officer D.P.Perrin
and pilot officer T.G.Bridges claimed the squadrons first successes
on the new aircraft within a few minutes of each other. 16./KG6 were
conducting experimental operations with Messerschmitt Me.210
aircraft targeting Middlesbrough. Perrin sighted the first Me.210A-1
(werk no. 2342 / 2H+CA) and immediately attacked bringing down the
aircraft close to Fell Briggs Farm, New Marske, near Redcar at 11:43
local time. The German crew of two Fw H. Mösgen
and Obergefr E. Czerny both bailed out, but were killed when their
parachutes failed to open. Within seven minutes Bridges intercepted
a second aircraft (werk no.2321 / 2H+HA). The Me.210A-1 was shot
down at 11:50 local and crashed at Sunnyside Farm, Fylingthorpe,
Yorkshire. Both crew members Oberlt W. Maurer (Staffelkapitän)
and Fw R. Jansen bailed out and were taken prisoner. These Me.210’s
were the first to be shot down over Britain.
Tragedy struck on October 21st 1942 when two Typhoon’s (R7861 & R7867) collided over Druridge Bay, Northumberland killing both pilots. Flight Lieutenant Philip E. Gerry Sayer a chief test pilot at Gloster Aircraft (who flew Britain’s maiden jet flight in Sir Frank Whittle’s Gloster E28/29 Pioneer on May 15th 1941) was flying R7867 with R7861 piloted by Pilot Officer P.N. Dobie. Both pilots were conducting a series of gun sight tests which involved firing the Typhoon’s cannon into the Druridge Bay Ranges. No further details are known including the circumstances of the collision.
On 9th November 1942, pilot officer T.G. Bridges aircraft
(R7868) was damaged beyond repair after it was hit by another Typhoon
With the conversion duly completed, the squadron departed South to Biggin Hill. Many of those Hurricanes that remained were transferred to Russia, though some were transferred to 539Sqn who were also resident at Acklington at the time.
A 'diary' of North East squadron history follows :-
| Date | Event |
| 08/07/1942 | Arrived at Acklington from Tangmere with Hurricane II (in use until Sep 1942) |
| Jul 1942 | Received Typhoon I (in use until Apr 1944) |
| 09/02/1943 | Left for Biggin Hill |
Representative Aircraft
| Hurricane IIB / IIC | Z3778 | BD770 | BD872 | BD940 | HL589 | HL603 |
| Typhoon IB | R7851 | R7856 | R7861 | R7862 | R7863 | R7864 |
| R7865 | R7867 | R7868 | R7876 | R7877 | R8690 | |