History
No. 78 Squadron was formed as part of the Royal Flying Corps on 1 November 1916 for home defence at Harrietsham and tasked with protecting the southern English coast. It was originally equipped with obsolescent BE2 and more modern BE12 fighters. On the night of 25 September 1917 a Captain Bell of the squadron encountered a German Gotha and attacked it over Joyce Green. John Rawlings, writing in Fighter Squadrons of the Royal Air Force (1969), stated that 'it was believed that he damaged it for one of the German raiders failed to return that night, being lost at sea.' The squadron received Sopwith 1½ Strutters in late 1917, followed by Sopwith Camels in mid-1918. It arrived at Sutton's Farm, under the command of Major Cuthbert Rowden, in September 1917 and was there until December 1919, with a detachment at Biggin Hill. The squadron disbanded on 31 December 1919 following the Armistice.
During the buildup of the RAF in the period before the World War II, No. 78 Squadron was reformed at RAF Boscombe Down on 1 November 1936, twenty-two years after it was first formed, by redesignating a flight of No. 10 Squadron.
In July 1939 it was equipped with Armstrong Whitworth Whitley medium bombers, and on the outbreak of war was designated as a training squadron and moved to RAF Linton-on-Ouse as part of the newly formed No. 4 Group RAF(RAF Bomber Command). From September 1939 to April 1941, however, Whitley Mk V bombers were flown by No. 78 for night operations from the bases at RAF Dishforth and RAF Linton-on-Ouse.
In July 1940 it was returned to front-line duties, and served as a full-time night bomber squadron of RAF Bomber Command, being re-equipped with Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers in early 1942 flying from Breighton Airfield in East Yorkshire
In May 1945 it was transferred into Transport Command, re-equipping with Dakotas in July and moving to the Middle East in September. It remained active in the post-war period as a transport squadron, converting to Valettas in 1950, before being disbanded on 30 September 1954.
The squadron was again reformed in April 1956 at Aden, operating Pioneer and later Twin Pioneer light transport aircraft. In 1965 these were transferred to No. 21 Squadron and the squadron converted to a helicopter unit operating the Wessex; it remained in this role until being disbanded in 1971.
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