This section of the website is dedicated to the operations of 6 Squadron during WW1.

 

6 Squadron celebrated its 110th birthday on 31st January 2024 and holds the record for the longest period of continuous service of any squadron in the world - a record unlikely to be beaten.

 

Twenty years ago, when I started researching my first book For God, England & Ethel (a factual historical novel about the early days of 6 Squadron), I quickly developed an affinity with the squadron in which my grandfather served for three tumultuous years between 1915 and 1917. What was originally intended to be a novel based upon truth ended up being a dramatised factual account of 6 Squadron's day to day operations over the Western Front, told by my grandfather, a lowly wireless mechanic. In order to appease those readers who wanted more facts, I also included a large number of technical footnotes and selected snippets of the squadron's history, some of which have never appeared in print.

 

For God, England & Ethel was six long years in the making, during which time I developed close ties with several WW1 aviation historians as well as the 6 Squadron Association, whose website carries the name 'The Flying Tin-Openers' - a very apt nickname dating back to WW2 where the cannons of 6 Squadron's Hurricanes were used to great effect against enemy tanks in the North African campaign. 

 

As I mentioned earlier, this web site concentrates on the early days of 6 Squadron. If you want to learn more about the recent history of this famous squadron, you should visit the 6 Squadron Royal Air Force Association website.

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The background image on this page is of (as at 2014) Squadron Leader Jim 'Rosie' Lee standing in front of a Typhoon, holding the WW1 message bag that my grandfather brought back from the Western Front and now resides in the 6 Squadron History Room at RAF Lossiemouth.