No. 40 Squadron of the 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...

 was formed in 1916 at Gosport

Gosport

Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...

 as No 40 Squadron RFC and was disbanded for the last time in 1957.
Edward Mannock

Edward Mannock

Major Edward Corringham "Mick" Mannock VC, DSO and Two Bars, MC & Bar was a British First World War flying ace. Mannock was probably born in Ireland, though of English and Scottish parentage....

 gained 16 of his 73 victories while with 40 Squadron, 15 of which he shot down while flying a Nieuport Scout. Highest scoring ace of the unit in World War I was Irish-born pilot George McElroy

George McElroy

Captain George Edward Henry McElroy MC and Two Bars, DFC and Bar was a leading ace fighter pilot of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force during World War I. He was credited with 47 aerial victories....

, having scored 30 of his total 47 aerial victories with the unit while flying an S.E.5a single seater scout. Others among the two dozen aces who served were
Roderic Dallas

Roderic Dallas

Roderic Stanley Dallas DSO, DSC & Bar was an Australian fighter ace of World War I. His score of aerial victories is generally regarded as the second-highest by an Australian, after Robert Little; however there is considerable dispute over Dallas's exact total...

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Albert Earl Godfrey

Albert Earl Godfrey

Group Captain Albert Earl Godfrey MC was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 14 victories while flying for the Royal Flying Corps. He spent the remainder of his career in the Royal Canadian Air Force.-Early life and service:"Steve" Godfrey was the son of Nellie and...

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Arthur Keen

Arthur Keen (aviator)

Major Arthur William Keen, MC was a World War I flying ace credited with fourteen aerial victories.Keen scored his first aerial victory while piloting a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter for 70 Squadron. On 28 August 1916, he drove a Fokker D.II down out of control over Bapaume. He was transferred to 40...

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Reed G. Landis

Reed G. Landis

Major Reed Gresham Landis was a World War I flying ace credited with twelve aerial victories.-Early life and World War I:Landis was the son of federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. In 1916, he enlisted in the 1st Illinois Cavalry of the National Guard, and served as a private along the Mexican...

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Ian Napier

Ian Napier (aviator)

Captain Ian Patrick Robert Napier MC was a World War I flying ace credited with twelve aerial victories.On 2 September 1914, Napier was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 9th Battalion, Princess Louise's Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. On 8 July 1915, he was appointed an aide-de-camp...

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William Leeming Harrison

William Leeming Harrison

Captain William Leeming Harrison was a Canadian fighter ace in World War I. He was credited with twelve aerial victories.-Enlistment information:...

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Gwilym Hugh Lewis

Gwilym Hugh Lewis

Captain Gwilym Hugh Lewis was a British flying ace during World War I. He was credited with 12 confirmed aerial victories. He went on to a very successful career as an insurance broker. Lewis was the next to last surviving British ace from the war, as well as the longest lived, dying eight months...

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Indra Lal Roy

Indra Lal Roy

Indra Lal Roy , DFC was the first Indian flying ace. He served in the First World War with the Royal Flying Corps and its successor, the Royal Air Force. He claimed 5 aircraft destroyed , and 5 'down out of control' wins in just over 170 hours flying time.The son of Bengali parents - P. L...

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John Henry Tudhope

John Henry Tudhope

John Henry Tudhope was a South African flying ace credited with 10 victories in World War I. After the war, Tudhope emigrated to Canada and joined the RCAF....

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Edwin Benbow

Edwin Benbow

Captain Edwin Louis Benbow was an English flying ace during the First World War, credited with eight victories, comprising six destroyed and one shared destroyed, and one 'out of control'. He was the only pilot to gain 'ace' status flying the Royal Aircraft Factory FE.8 exclusively...

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Herbert Ellis

Herbert Ellis

Lieutenant Herbert Edward Oscar Ellis, MC, was a World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories. On 4 May 1917, after running out of machine gun ammunition, he scored his third victory of the day with pistol fire.Ellis scored four victories during Bloody April, 1917, on the 13th,...

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William Bond

William Bond (aviator)

Captain William Arthur Bond MC* was a First World War flying ace credited with five aerial victories.Bond was wounded while serving in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in the Dardanelles in 1916. After transferring to the Royal Flying Corps, Bond was posted to fly Nieuport fighters in No....

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Gerard Crole,
Robert Hall

Robert Hall (aviator)

Captain Robert Norwood Hall was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories.Hall tallied his first win on 24 April 1917, when he drove an enemy two-seater down out of control. On 7 May, he became a balloon buster by destroying three observation balloons on the same mission;...

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John Wallwork

John Wallwork

Lieutenant John Wilson Wallwork MC was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories.-References:...

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and Arthur Thomas Drinkwater

Arthur Thomas Drinkwater

Captain Arthur Thomas Drinkwater was an Australian-born World War I flying ace. He was credited with nine aerial victories; six of those victories were scored when Drinkwater was a bomber pilot, making him one of the rare bomber pilot aces.-Early life:...

.

No. 40 operated Bristol Blenheim Mk IV

Bristol Blenheim

The Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was adapted as an interim long-range and night fighter, pending the availability of the Beaufighter...

 light bombers from RAF Wyton

RAF Wyton

RAF Wyton is a Royal Air Force station near St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, England.In terms of organisation RAF Wyton is now part of the combined station RAF Brampton Wyton Henlow, a merger of Wyton with two previously separate bases, RAF Brampton and RAF Henlow. Wyton is the largest of the three. It...

in December 1940.