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By: - 2nd March 2006 at 21:54 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
There was some surprise at 25 being chosen, since it was thought that squadrons with an allegedly more distinguished record ought to have been chosen. RAF squadrons are reformed based on their seniority based on continuous service. 25 is rather high on the list, and was at the time. The service record of the unit doesn't come into it, since it was agreed in about 1957 that making judgements about which out of two units had a more distinguished history was subjective and unfair.
One of two things can happen. The first scenario is that a newly-forming unit will be given the most senior numberplate not in use at the time (when the F3s entered service, numberplates used by Reserve Squadrons were not considered to be in use). Some regard will be given to whether or not the squadron has previously served in that role, so if - say - 50 was the senior numberplate and a fighter squadron was to be formed, it might be the case that the most senior fighter squadron numberplate was chosen instead (which is why, in 1984, the F-4J(UK) Phantoms went to 74 Squadron rather than to 39 Squadron).
The case against 25 rested solely on the fact that the unit was a frontline squadron with Bloodhounds. However, the Air Staff decided that the Bloodhounds should all be under the control of one squadron rather than two, so 25's missiles were absorbed by 85 Squadron, and 25, in effect, took the other means of giving a squadron new equipment, namely by re-equipping it. If the idea that a squadron equipped with SAMs was in some way a 'second tier' unit was held, then the case for 'restoring' the most senior fighter squadron not equipped with fixed-wing aircraft was quite strong.
Had 25 not been chosen, the next most senior numberplate was 45. However... at about this time, the fact that many of the OCUs with reserve squadron identities were increasingly identifying themselves with those squadron numbers rather than the OCU numbers meant that the idea that a numberplate was in use if applied as a reserve plate for an OCU gained credence.
This, in turn, means that 58 would have been the first 'free' numberplate (limited fighter heritage), followed by 26 (much more of a fighter heritage - fighter recce with Mustangs, then Spitfires; followed by a fighter role with Tempests, Sabres and Hunters).
So - as far as can be ascertained, nothing 'dodgy' happened with the reforming of 25 on the F3. It was the most senior fighter squadron numberplate available once the decision to place all the SAMs under the control of a single squadron was made (whether the decision to do this was influenced by ex-25 Sqn types is another matter...), and the RAF's policy outlines on choice of a numberplate were met.
Had it not been 25 Squadron, then the aircraft would have been with 45 Squadron instead if the policy that a reserve squadron numberplate was not 'in use' was still being observed (as noted, this was a bit of a grey area at the time); if that principle no longer held, the next most senior fighter plate was 58 Squadron: if 58's lack of heritage as a fighter unit had been held against it, then 26 Squadron would have been the most likely number.
Sorry that's rather long, but the process itself is quite complicated - since the 25 Squadron query pops up around the place every once in a while, I thought it might be helpful to outline what actually happens. While senior officers can have some influence over the process, it would be difficult for an individual to ensure that their old unit was preferred over another that had better claim.
(NB - I suspect that given half a chance to reform 92 on the Typhoon, the RAF will throw the policy paper out of the window, and given the chance to reform 74, they'll set light to the paper it's written on before defenestrating the document)
Posts: 29
By: smarchitelli - 2nd March 2006 at 14:11
After going through the book Tornado:Multi-role Combat Aircraft by Jon Lake/Mike Crutch, there seemed to be a certain animosity towards 25 Squadron being chosen to reform as the final RAF Leeming Tornado squadron at the time. My question is was this animosity warranted towards this former Bloodhound unit? Is the myth true that 25 Squadron had some former members in “high places” that dictated it being chosen over a “more historically significant” RAF squadron? Just curious.