18 Facts About RAF Regiment

Royal Air Force Regiment is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps.

RAF Regiment Gunners are personnel trained in various disciplines such as infantry tactics, force protection, field craft, sniper, support special forces operations, CBRN defence, equipped with advanced vehicles and detection measures.

RAF Regiment instructors are responsible for training all Royal Air Force personnel in basic force protection such as first aid, weapon handling and CBRN skills.

Genesis of the RAF Regiment was the creation of No 1 Armoured Car Company RAF, formed in Egypt in 1921 for operations in Iraq, followed shortly afterwards by No 2 Armoured Car Company RAF and No 3 Armoured Car Company RAF.

RAF Regiment units defended airfields and forward mobile radar units in Arakan in the Arakan Campaign in late 1942 and early 1943.

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RAF Regiment fought as field, armoured car and light anti-aircraft squadrons and flights in North Africa, the Middle East, Italy, the Balkans and North Western Europe, as well as 68 LAA squadrons defending the UK against V1 attacks as part of Operation Diver, alongside the Royal Artillery's heavy anti-aircraft and LAA batteries.

Amongst other things, RAF Regiment units were the first British forces to reach Paris, amongst the first to enter Brussels, and Squadron Leader Mark Hobden and his force arrested Hitler's successor as Fuhrer, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, at his HQ in Flensburg.

In February 1945, Sergeant Pollards's B 6 gun detachment of 2809 Squadron RAF Regiment shot down another Me 262 over the airfield of Vokel.

On 5 December 1944, twelve RAF Regiment squadrons deployed onto various airfields in southern Greece.

RAF Regiment later decided to present his king's colour in 1952, on the 10th anniversary of the RAF Regiment's founding.

At the eastern end of the Empire, flights from RAF Regiment squadrons based in Singapore deployed to Hong Kong in 1968 to help maintain security and confidence.

The RAF Regiment continued to be involved in Hong Kong into the mid-1970s providing protection at both RAF Kai Tak and at the radar station at Tai Mo Shan.

In 1974, the Rapier surface-to-air missile system entered service with the RAF Regiment, and equipped four squadrons protecting four RAF airfields in Germany.

Detachments from the German Rapier Squadrons, particularly from RAF Regiment Gutersloh, deployed to San Carlos beach-head during the Falklands conflict to provide anti-aircraft cover.

Four RAF Regiment personnel were killed by the IRA, all in 1988 and 1989 - one killed by hostile fire in Northern Ireland, the rest by snipers or car bombs in Europe.

Not all personnel on an RAF Regiment squadron are trained gunners but can be involved in specialist support services such as administrators and drivers.

Formerly, all RAF Regiment personnel were men, as it was British government policy that women could not serve in close combat units.

Two RAF Regiment officers serving with the Aden Protectorate Levies at Dhala decided to amuse themselves by going out to shoot some of the hamadryas baboons .