No. 28 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Puma and Chinook helicopters from RAF Benson. History First World War No. 28 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed on 7 November 1915 at RAF Gosport. Initially it was a training squadron equipped with a variety of different aircraft, although in June 1916, it was also recorded as having home defence duties, for which it had a few Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.12s, although it lost this role in July that year. On 9 June, part of the squadron was split off to form the nucleus of the new 56 Squadron. In July 1917, 28 Squadron moved to Yatesbury in Wiltshire for conversion to the fighter role, receiving the Sopwith Camel from September 1917. The squadron moved to France on 8 October 1917, and flew its first operational sortie on 20 October, during the Battle of Passchendaele, when 19 of the squadron's aircraft provided cover during an attack by Camels of 70 Squadron on a German airfield at Rumbeke, Belgium, with 28 Squadron claiming three German aircraft shot down. On 26 October, as a result of the Austro-German offensive against Italy at the Battle of Caporetto, the British government agreed to sent troops and aircraft to reinforce the Italians, and 28 Squadron was one of the squadrons ordered to Italy, arriving at Milan by rail on 12 November, with its aircraft uncrated and reassembled by 14 November. The squadron's aircraft flew escort missions for army cooperation patrols over the front lines, as well as for longer-range strategic reconnaissance missions and for bombing raids. From February 1918, the squadron added attacks against enemy airfields to its duties, and in March, a flight of Bristol F.2 Fighters was attached to the squadron for long-range reconnaissance, although they were soon passed in to 34 Squadron. On 1 April 1918, the squadron became part of the newly established Royal Air Force. On 15 June 1918, Austria-Hungary launched a major offensive on the Italian front. As the weather on the sector of the front (on the Asiago plateau) held by British troops was too poor for air power to be useful, the RAF squadrons' efforts were diverted to help the Italians on the Piave front, where Austro-Hungarian forces had crossed the River Piave. All available British aircraft were employed against the Austro-Hungarian forces, and in particular against the crossings over the Piave, and when