| |  78 squadron
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When 78 Squadron reformed as part of the Falkland Islands Garrison, it amalgamated the Chinook HC.1s from 1310 Flight and the Sea King HAR.3s from 1564 Flight into the new unit.  Formed on 1 Nov 1916, 78 Squadron began its rotary wing career in Jun 1965 at Khormaksar in Aden with the Wessex HC.2 and moved to Sharjah in the UAE between 17 and 23 Oct 1967 via HMS Fearless (L10), until it disbanded on 21 Dec 1971. It reformed at RAF Stanley in the Falkland Islands on 2 May 1986. 78 Squadron operates Chinook HC.2 and Sea King HAR.3As. Until 2004, the Sea Kings wore an overall grey for Combat SAR and utility missions, since then they have reverted to the more usual high visibility yellow paint scheme. From Nov 2007, the Squadron was reformed at RAF Benson as part of the Merlin force to fly the Merlin HC3a. 78 Squadron was reformed at RAF Benson on 3 Dec 2007, from a flight of 28 Squadron (then on detatchment in Iraq) and with the Merlin HC3, which will be supplemented with ex RDAF Merlins from 2008, into a Merlin pool; airframes are to be shared with 28 Squadron. |
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