No. 73 Squadron RAF

The squadron, only for a matter of days led by Lieutenant C A Mercer, came under the command of Major H F A Gordon and started a phase of training at Lilbourne.

From September 1917, this became more specifically targeted towards operating in combat when a Programme of Development was received, instructing the unit to prepare for an overseas deployment on 22 December.

Two flights each comprising six machines undertook practice patrols, one along the balloon lines from Boesinghe to Flerbaix and then Bethune to Arras.

On the 20th, all 18 Camels, divided into three 'Flights' patrolled a line between Roeselare and Menin and the first combat report was completed by Captain Gus Orlebar, submitting that an Albatros D.V may have been damaged.

It was the start of a combat record that would show ten aces serving in the squadron, including Owen Baldwin, Gavin L. Graham, William Stephenson, William Henry Hubbard, Emile John Lussier, Robert Chandler, Norman Cooper, Maurice Le Blanc-Smith, Thomas Sharpe, and future Air Vice-Marshal Geoffrey Pidcock.

In March 1918 the squadron was moved to the south of the British Front where it became engaged in the German offensive between Cambrai and St. Quentin where low level strafing was carried out.

In August the squadron was attached to the Tank Corps for special duties in connection with anti-tank gun strafing and took part in a succession of battles on the Third and Fourth Army Fronts.

During the Battle of Britain No.73 Squadron, operating from RAF Debden on 5 September until late October, when the unit withdrew in preparation for a move to the Middle East.

The squadron Hurricanes were shipped to Takoradi on the Gold Coast on board HMS Furious, and were then flown in stages across Africa to Egypt.

The squadron arrived in Akrotiri in March 1957 to form part of the Middle East Air Force Strike Wing, equipped with Canberra B2s.