Aviation Art of No.20 Sqn

Audax
Manufacturer : Hawker Engineering Company
Built : 625

Audax
Based largely on the Hawker Hart, which it resembled, the Hawker Audax was produced between 1931 and 1937. The aircraft was intended as a trainer / observation aircraft / light bomber. The Audax was the main army co-operation aircraft in RAF service from 1932 until its replacement by the Westland Lysander in 1937-8. The Audax was then used for second line duties, amongst them advanced training and communication duties in Britain. The number of aircraft produced meant that the Audax remained in use in India and the Middle East well into the Second World War. In Egypt a small number were used by Nos. 173 and 267 squadrons for local communication and transport duties, only being replaced in 1942. Further south No. 237 Squadron had used the Audax in operations on the Kenyan-Ethiopian border between the Italian declaration of war in June 1940 and September 1940 when the squadron concentrated on the Hawker Hardy. Finally in the Middle East, a number of Audaxes were allocated to No. 52 Squadron in Iraq between July 1941 and January 1942. However No. 52 Squadron had no aircrew, and so the aircraft were flown by pilots of No. 31 Squadron, providing local reconnaissance. The Audax saw most active service in India. The RAF in India had been stripped of many modern aircraft during the first two years of the war, leaving it very vulnerable after the Japanese entry into the war in December 1941. Two squadrons (Nos. 5 and 146) were even forced to use the Audax as single seat fighters, before receiving the Curtiss Mohawk in early 1942. No. 28 squadron retained a number of Audaxes during the Japanese advance through Burma. The final squadrons to use the Audax were Nos.1 and 3 of the Indian Air Force. No. 3 Squadron used the Audax to fly patrols over the North West Frontier between October 1941 and September 1943. Most remarkably, No. 1 Squadron used the Audax in its original role, as an army co-operation aircraft, for four months between September 1943 and January 1944.

Beaufighter
Manufacturer : Bristol
Built : 5564

Beaufighter
BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER The Bristol Beaufighter was a Torpedo Bomber and had a crew of two. with a maximum speed of 330mph and a ceiling of 29,000 feet. maximum normal range of 1500 miles but could be extended to 1750 miles. The Bristol Beaufighter carried four 20mm cannon in the belly of the aircraft and upto six .303in browning machine guns in the wings. it could also carry eight 3 -inch rockets, 1605 lb torpedo or a bomb load of 1,000 lb. The Bristol Beaufighter first flew in July 1939 and with some modifications entered service with the Royal Air Force in July 1940. In the winter of 1940 - 1941 the Beaufighter was used as a night fighter. and in March 1941 the aircraft was used at Coastal Command as a long range strike aircraft. and in 1941, the Beaufighter arrived in North Africa and used as a forward ground attack aircraft. The Bristol Beaufighter was used also in India, Burma and Australia. A total of 5,564 Beaufighters were built until production in Britain finished in 1945, but a further 364 were built in Australia for the Australian Air Force

Bristol F2B
Manufacturer : Bristol
Built : 0

Bristol F2B
The Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2 First World war early two-seater pusher biplane and was used by the Royal Flying Corps as a fighter and also as a day or night bomber. The FE2 was one of the few aircraft which gave the allies the edge over the Fokker aircraft of 1914/1915. In May 1915 the F.E.2b entered service with No 6 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps and it was 20 squadron which was the first squadron to be totally equipped with Fe2 aircraft which was deployed in January 1916. The Fe2B remained in day use throughout 1916 and 1917 and in 1918 was used solely as a night bomber. The FE2b equipped 22 squadrons, 16 of which served in France with the other 6 serving the home defence. As the German fighters got better the FE2B was outclassed and was used only as a light night bomber or used on the home defense front against the Zeppelins. Crew: Two Speed: 80 knots (91.5 mph,) Endurance 3 hours Ceiling 11,000 ft Maximum take off weight 3,037 lbs Length: 32 ft 3 in Height: 12 ft 8 in Wingspan 495 ft² Engine Beardmore 6 cylinder inline piston engine giving 160 HP

Harvard
Manufacturer : North American Aviation
Built : 15495

Harvard
The Texan originated from the North American NA-16 prototype (first flown on April 1, 1935) which, modified as the NA-26, was submitted as an entry for a USAAC "Basic Combat" aircraft competition in March, 1937. The first model went into production and 180 were supplied to the USAAC as the BC-1 and 400 to the RAF as the Harvard I. The US Navy received 16 modified aircraft, designated the SNJ-1, and a further 61 as the SNJ-2 with a different engine. The BC-1 was the production version of the NA-26 prototype, with retractable tailwheel landing gear and the provision for armament, a two-way radio, and the 550-hp (410 kW) R-1340-47 engine as standard equipment. Production versions included the BC-1 (Model NA-36) with only minor modifications (177 built), of which 30 were modified as BC-1I instrument trainers; the BC-1A (NA-55) with airframe revisions (92 built); and a single BC-1B with a modified wing center-section. Three BC-2 aircraft were built before the shift to the "advanced trainer" designation, AT-6, which was equivalent to the BC-1A. The differences between the AT-6 and the BC-1 were new outer wing panels with a swept-forward trailing edge, squared-off wingtips, and a triangular rudder, producing the canonical Texan silhouette. After a change to the rear of the canopy, the AT-6 was designated the Harvard II for RAF/RCAF orders and 1,173 were supplied by purchase or Lend Lease, mostly operating in Canada as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Next came the AT-6A which was based on the NA-77 design and was powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1340-49 Wasp radial engine. The USAAF received 1,549 and the US Navy 270 (as the SNJ-3). The AT-6B was built for gunnery training and could mount a .30 in machine gun on the forward fuselage. It used the R-1340-AN-1 engine, which was to become the standard for the remaining T-6 production. Canada's Noorduyn Aviation built an R-1340-AN-1-powered version of the AT-6A, which was supplied to the USAAF as the AT-16 (1,500 aircraft) and the RAF/RCAF as the Harvard IIB (2,485 aircraft), some of which also served with the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Canadian Navy. No. 1340 Flight RAF used the Harvard in Kenya against the Mau Mau in the 1950s, where they operated with 20-lb bombs and machine guns against the rebels. Some operations took place at altitudes around 20,000 ft above mean sea level. A Harvard was the longest-serving RAF aeroplane,

Hunter
Manufacturer : Hawker
Built : 1972

Hunter
Hawker Hunter F-1 to Fr-10 jet fighter and fighter reconnaissance aircraft first flew with No43 squadron Royal Air Force in July 1954. The Hawker Hunter continued service until 1971. The Hunters were used by two RAF display units, the "Black Arrows" of No. 111 Squadron who set a record by looping and barrel rolling in formation 22 Hunters, and later the "Blue Diamonds" of 92 Squadron that used 16 Hunters. A total of 1,972 Hunters were produced by Hawker Siddeley and under licence.

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.

Lysander
Manufacturer : Westland Aircraft
Built : 1786

Lysander
The first Lysanders entered service in June 1938, equipping squadrons for army co-operation and were initially used for message-dropping and artillery spotting. When war broke out in Europe, the earlier Mk Is had been largely replaced by Mk IIs, the older machines heading for the Middle East. Some of these aircraft, now designated type L.1, operated with the Chindits of the British Indian Army in the Burma Campaign of the Second World War. Four regular squadrons equipped with Lysanders accompanied the British Expeditionary Force to France in October 1939, and were joined by a further squadron early in 1940. Following the German invasion of France and the low countries on 10 May 1940, the Lysanders were put into action as spotters and light bombers. In spite of occasional victories against German aircraft, they made very easy targets for the Luftwaffe even when escorted by Hurricanes. Withdrawn from France during the Dunkirk evacuation, they continued to fly supply-dropping missions to Allied forces from bases in England; on one mission to drop supplies to troops trapped at Calais, 14 of 16 Lysanders and Hawker Hectors that set out were lost. 118 Lysanders were lost in or over France and Belgium in May and June 1940, of a total of 175 deployed. With the fall of France, it was clear that the type was unsuitable for the coastal patrol and army co-operation role, being described by Air Marshal Arthur Barratt, commander-in-chief of the British Air Forces in France as "quite unsuited to the task; a faster, less vulnerable aircraft was required." Nevertheless, throughout the remainder of 1940, Lysanders flew dawn and dusk patrols off the coast and in the event of an invasion of Britain, they were tasked with attacking the landing beaches with light bombs and machine guns.[9] They were replaced in the home-based army co-operation role from 1941 by camera-equipped fighters such as the Curtiss Tomahawk and North American Mustang carrying out reconnaissance operations, while light aircraft such as the Taylorcraft Auster were used to direct artillery. Some UK-based Lysanders went to work operating air-sea rescue, dropping dinghies to downed RAF aircrew in the English Channel. Fourteen squadrons and flights were formed for this role in 1940 and 1941. In August 1941 a new squadron, No. 138 (Special Duties), was formed to undertake missions for the Special Operations Executive to maintain clandestine contact with the French Resistance. Among its aircraft were Lysander Mk IIIs, which flew over and landed in occupied France. While general supply drops could be left to the rest of No. 138's aircraft, the Lysander could insert and remove agents from the continent or retrieve Allied aircrew who had been shot down over occupied territory and had evaded capture. For this role the Mk IIIs were fitted with a fixed ladder over the port side to hasten access to the rear cockpit and a large drop tank under the belly. In order to slip in unobtrusively the Lysanders were painted matte black; operations almost always took place within a week of a full moon, as moonlight was essential for navigation. The aircraft undertook such duties until the liberation of France in 1944. The Lysanders flew from secret airfields at Newmarket and later Tempsford, but used regular RAF stations to fuel-up for the actual crossing, particularly RAF Tangmere. Flying without any navigation equipment other than a map and compass, Lysanders would land on short strips of land, such as fields, marked out by four or five torches. They were originally designed to carry one passenger in the rear cockpit, but for SOE use the rear cockpit was modified to carry two passengers in extreme discomfort in case of urgent necessity. The pilots of No. 138 and from early 1942, No. 161 Squadron transported 101 agents to and recovered 128 agents from Nazi-occupied Europe. The Germans knew little about the British aircraft and wished to study one. Soldiers captured an intact Lysander in March 1942 when its pilot was unable to destroy it after a crash, but a train hit the truck carrying the Lysander, destroying the cargo

Spitfire
Manufacturer : Supermarine
Built : 20351

Spitfire
Royal Air Force fighter aircraft, maximum speed for mark I Supermarine Spitfire, 362mph up to The Seafire 47 with a top speed of 452mph. maximum ceiling for Mk I 34,000feet up to 44,500 for the mark XIV. Maximum range for MK I 575 miles . up to 1475 miles for the Seafire 47. Armament for the various Marks of Spitfire. for MK I, and II . eight fixed .303 browning Machine guns, for MKs V-IX and XVI two 20mm Hispano cannons and four .303 browning machine guns. and on later Marks, six to eight Rockets under the wings or a maximum bomb load of 1,000 lbs. Designed by R J Mitchell, The proto type Spitfire first flew on the 5th March 1936. and entered service with the Royal Air Force in August 1938, with 19 squadron based and RAF Duxford. by the outbreak of World war two, there were twelve squadrons with a total of 187 spitfires, with another 83 in store. Between 1939 and 1945, a large variety of modifications and developments produced a variety of MK,s from I to XVI. The mark II came into service in late 1940, and in March 1941, the Mk,V came into service. To counter the Improvements in fighters of the Luftwaffe especially the FW190, the MK,XII was introduced with its Griffin engine. The Fleet Air Arm used the Mk,I and II and were named Seafires. By the end of production in 1948 a total of 20,351 spitfires had been made and 2408 Seafires. The most produced variant was the Spitfire Mark V, with a total of 6479 spitfires produced. The Royal Air Force kept Spitfires in front line use until April 1954.

Tigermoth
Built : 8800

Tigermoth
The Royal Air Force last bi-plane, which served as a trainer from 1932 to 1947. Its design remained nearly the same throughout its history, and was well constructed and able to do aerobatics. A total of 8800 Tiger Moths were built which included 420 Radio Controlled Pilotless Target aircraft. (The Queen Bee). For the Royal Air Force. It was also used for a short period during the first months of world war two for coastal reconnaissance. Maximum speed 109 mph, Ceiling 14,000 feet, and can remain airborne for three hours.

Vampire

Vampire
No profile available

No.20 Sqn RAF
Pilot and aircrew signature details

Aces for : No.20 Sqn RAF
A list of all Aces from our database who are known to have flown with this squadron. A profile page is available by clicking the pilots name.
Name	Victories	Info
Reginald Stuart Maxwell	9.00