For the Israeli Air Force squadron, see 113 Squadron (Israel).

Hornet Squadron is the name of a fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

al Royal Flying Corps

Royal Flying Corps

The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

, and later Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

, fighter squadron

Squadron (aviation)

A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...

 featured in a number of novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

s by British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 author Derek Robinson.

Hornet Squadron first appeared in Robinson's 1983 novel Piece of Cake

Piece of Cake (book)

Piece of Cake is a 1983 novel by Derek Robinson which follows a fictional Royal Air Force fighter squadron through the first year of World War II, and the Battle of Britain. It was later made into a television series....

, which spans the period from the start of the Second World War through the Battle of Britain

Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...

. In 1988 Piece of Cake became a 6-part television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 mini-series. In the book the squadron flies the Hawker Hurricane

Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...

 while in the television series, the Supermarine Spitfire

Supermarine Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...

 is flown.

The next Hornet Squadron book was War Story

War Story

War Stories was a comic book series written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by a number of artists.-Overview:The series consisted of two, 4-issue mini-series the two series were printed monthly, the first beginning in November 2001 and the second beginning in January 2003.Each mini series consisted...

(1987) set in 1916 during the First World War. It was followed by Hornet's Sting (1991) set in 1917. These Hornet Squadron novels became prequel

Prequel

A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...

s to Robinson's first book, Goshawk Squadron (1971) which was set in 1918. Despite the different squadron names, there are common characters linking the books. The World War I books sees the squadron operating F.E.2 fighters

Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2

The Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2 was a two-seat pusher biplane that was operated as a day and night bomber and as a fighter aircraft by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War...

.

The final Hornet Squadron book was A Good Clean Fight

A Good Clean Fight

A Good Clean Fight is a 1993 novel by Derek Robinson, and a sequel to Piece of Cake , his famous and controversial novel of the Battle of Britain. It continues the story of RAF Hornet Squadron, now posted to North Africa in 1942, during a lull in the fighting...

(1993) which picks up the story of the squadron post-Piece of Cake when it was fighting with the Desert Air Force

Desert Air Force

The Desert Air Force , also known chronologically as Air Headquarters Western Desert, Air Headquarters Libya, AHQ Western Desert, the Western Desert Air Force, Desert Air Force, and the First Tactical Air Force , was an Allied tactical air force initially created from No...

in 1942.