The Birth of No.50 Squadron RAF

In the spring of 1916 Britain had a serious, terrifying and devastating airborne problem. No.50 Squadron was created to face up to that menace from the air, and to destroy it. That the squadron did its job cannot be doubted, for within months the terror was gone - though only to be replaced by one even more destructive. And No.50 Squadron was hurled into the struggle to defeat that new devilish weapon.

The night time terror from the skies came in the form of gigantic Zeppelin airships that cruised over the North Sea from Germany laden with bombs that their crews dropped with often devastating accuracy on towns, cities and ports across eastern Britain. The first raid had come in January 1915 when Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn were bombed by night. Four people were killed, 16 injured and property worth £8,000 was destroyed. Over the following months dozens of raids were carried out by the Zeppelins, killing 181 people, wounding 455 and causing almost a million pounds worth of damage. Clearly something had to be done to stop the menace.

The problem was that the Zeppelins flew high, at the very ceiling of contemporary fixed wing aircraft. And while they were huge, the parts of them that were vulnerable were remarkably small. A few bullet holes in the gas bags that made up the bulk of the craft made little difference to their bouyancy. The engines and the crew, together with their bombs and machine guns, were housed in gondolas slung underneath the vast gas bags. Anti aircraft artillery could certainly do damage, and were thought capable of bringing down a Zeppelin, but again the height of the airships made hitting them from the ground difficult. In any case the German raiders came at night. Searchlights might reach the Zeppelins to illuminate them for the gunners on clear nights, but were ineffective on cloudy nights. Not so the raiders. They lowered men in observation cars that dangled 3,000 feet or more below the Zeppelin to telephone messages back up to the gondola to tell the pilot where to steer and the bomber when to drop his deadly load.

In February 1916 the air defence of Britain was handed over to the army, which gave the task to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), then part of the army. The RFC decided that anti aircraft guns with searchlights were the best nocturnal defence and drew up plans for hundreds of combined gun-light batteries to be installed round cities and towns. During daylight hours, trust was placed in the new models of scout aircraft entering service that could climb up to the operating height of the Zeppelins fast enough to stand a chance of catching them. The RFC formed a number of Home Defence Squadrons, mostly based on the east coast or near London, which were tasked with tackling any Zeppelins which came in sight during daylight hours, for even with mounting attacks by night - night flying by planes was always hazardous business at this date.

And so, on 15 April 1916, the Royal Flying Corps brought into existence No.50 Squadron, tasked with home defence against Zeppelin airships.