Squadron Leader Robin Langdon-Davies DFC

Squadron Leader Robin Langdon-Davies DFC

Officer Commanding 6 Squadron 1944, Hurricane ground attack Pilot. Born in Southampton in 1920 to pacifist Quakers, Robin and his family sailed on the Lancastria for New York in 1925, and lived fleetingly in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and then, very happily, from 1926 to 1928, at San Feliu de Guixols in Catalonia. He and his older brother led lives of enviable freedom even if not allowed to play warlike games, except cavaliers and roundheads. Robin was the roundhead. Their parents' marriage broke up and they moved to Devon, but the boys ran away from the progressive Dartington Hall and were sent to Leighton Park. Back in England after the Spanish civil war, Robin began studying chartered accountancy, and while taking his articles in Oxford he met Cicely Dyer. They married in 1941. The civil war had deeply affected him, and he devoted himself to campaigning for the Spanish republic. In July 1940, he enlisted in the RAF and went on to fly Hurricanes, Spitfires and Mustangs. His favourite plane was the Bristol Beaufighter, which he flew with 6 Squadron in the Adriatic in 1943 on anti-shipping missions. One day, out of four fighter-bombers two, were lost. Retaliatory action was taken and his co-pilot recalled Robin observing 'this is worth a posthumous DFC'. Robin got the medal two months later and became officer in charge of 6 Squadron in 1944. Sadly he passed away in October 2005 aged 84.

Hurricane
Manufacturer : Hawker
Built : 14533

Hurricane
Royal Air Force Fighter, the Hawker Hurricane had a top speed of 320mph, at 18,200 feet and 340mph at 17,500, ceiling of 34,200 and a range of 935 miles. The Hurricane was armed with eight fixed wing mounted .303 browning machine guns in the Mark I and twelve .303 browning's in the MKIIB in the Hurricane MKIIC it had four 20mm cannon. All time classic fighter the Hurricane was designed in 1933-1934, the first prototype flew in June 1936 and a contract for 600 for the Royal Air Force was placed. The first production model flew ion the 12th October 1937 and 111 squadron of the Royal Air Force received the first Hurricanes in January 1938. By the outbreak of World war two the Royal Air Force had 18 operational squadrons of Hurricanes. During the Battle of Britain a total of 1715 Hurricanes took part, (which was more than the rest of the aircraft of the Royal air force put together) and almost 75% of the Victories during the Battle of Britain went to hurricane pilots. The Hawker Hurricane was used in all theatres during World war two, and in many roles. in total 14,533 Hurricanes were built.

Squadron Leader Robin Langdon-Davies DFC
Squadron details

No.6 Sqn RAF
Country : UK
Known Codes : , JV, NI, XE, ZD,

No.6 Sqn RAF

Oculi exercitus - The eyes of the army

The squadron was formed on 31 January 1914, at Farnborough as No. 6 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. Its first squadron commander was Major John Becke. The Squadron finished the war flying RE8s, and shortly after the end of the War, it transferred to Iraq and re-equipped with Bristol Fighters. During the following years, it undertook operations against various uprisings before transferring to Egypt in 1929 and receiving Fairey Gordon bombers. Following increased tension between Arabs and Jews No 6 Sqn moved to Ramleh in Palestine during 1937 with Hawker Hardys. During the early part of WWII, the Squadron and its Lysanders remained in Palestine, but detached aircraft to the Western Desert until 1941 when Hurricanes were on strength. Further action in the Desert on anti-tank duties continued from 1942 until the end of the North African campaign. After converting to rocket-firing Hurricanes in 1944, the Squadron moved to Italy and flew the remainder of the War over the Balkans. A brief stint in Palestine after the War as followed by a move to Cyprus with Tempests.In July 1945, the squadron moved to Palestine. They cooperated with the police, patrolling the Kirkuk-to-Haifa oil pipeline to prevent terrorist attacks. The squadron remained in the Middle East until 1969. During this period, the squadron went from being equipped with Hurricanes (and for a brief period four Spitfires due to a lack of available Hurricanes) to Hawker Tempest Mk. VIs and subsequently De Havilland Vampire FB.5s. In January 1950 the squadron moved to RAF Habbaniya in Iraq with many moves back and forth between RAF Habbaniya and RAF Shaibah in Iraq, RAF Abu Sueir and RAF Deversoir in the Suez Canal Zone, RAF Nicosia in Cyprus, RAF Mafraq and RAF Amman in Jordan and detachments throughout the Middle East Throughout this period, it continued to operate Vampires and a twin-seat Gloster Meteor T.7 until re-equipped with De Haviland Venoms The Squadron finally left the Middle East in 1969 when it moved to Coningsby to become the first Phantom Squadron. During 1974, No 6 Sqn moved to RAF Coltishall and re-equipped with Jaguar fighter bombers. Operational deployments with the Jaguar have seen the squadron involved in Operation Granby (Gulf War 1), Warden (later Op Resinate North - Northern Iraq - until 2003) and Deny Flight (Balkans). In April 2006 No 6 Sqn moved to RAF Coningsby where it was the last RAF Sqn operating the Jaguar. On Monday 6 September 2010, No 6 Squadron, the first Typhoon fighter squadron in Scotland, officially stood up at Royal Air Force Leuchars.

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Squadron Leader Robin Langdon-Davies DFC - Signed Aviation Art