No. 52 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron that saw service in both World War I and World War II. History First World War No. 52 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed as a Corps Reconnaissance squadron at Hounslow Heath Aerodrome on 15 May 1916. It moved to France in November that year, being the first squadron equipped with the Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8. At first the squadron had little success with its R.E.8s, suffering many spinning accidents, and these losses affected morale so much that in January 1917 the squadron swapped its R.E.8s for the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2s of 34 Squadron. It re-equipped again with R.E.8s in May, flying in support of the allied offensives at Ypres that summer. In March 1918 it suffered heavy losses flying ground attack sorties against the German Spring Offensive. The squadron became part of the Royal Air Force when the Royal Flying Corps merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918, continuing in the Corps Reconnaissance role, for the rest of the war. It returned to the United Kingdom in February 1919, disbanding at Lopcombe Corner on 23 October 1919. Reformation No 52 Squadron reformed at RAF Abingdon on 18 January 1937 from a nucleus provided by 15 Squadron. It was initially equipped with Hawker Hind biplane light bombers, these being replaced by Fairey Battle monoplanes from November 1937. In February 1939, the squadron was assigned the task of training crews for the other squadrons in its group, with its Battles being supplemented by Avro Anson to aid the training task. Following the outbreak of the Second World War it continued in the training role, supporting the Battle equipped Advanced Air Striking Force before being absorbed into No 12 Operational Training Unit on 8 April 1940. The squadron reformed on 1 July 1941 at RAF Habbaniya in Iraq as a maintenance unit. Although it had no aircrew, it did have 21 Hawker Audaxes on charge, which were occasionally flown by members of other units based at Habbaniya on reconnaissance missions. In December that year the Audaxes were disposed of, while the Squadron moved to Mosul in August 1942. No. 52 became a flying squadron again in October 1942, when it received Bristol Blenheims, which were used for survey work over Iraq. Its Blenheims were supplemented with Martin Baltimores in January 1943. It moved to Egypt in