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| |  queens flight
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Originally instituted as the King's Flight in 1936, it served the Royal Households of King Edward VIII and King George VI. It moved to RAF Benson in Sep 1939, disbanding in 1942 and reformed there in 1946. From 1952, with the accession of Queen Elizabeth II, the unit became the Queen's Flight and served with a mix of fixed wing and rotary wing airframes.  The Dragonfly HC.4 was introduced in Apr 1954 and phased out in autumn 1958, following the introduction of the Whirlwind HC.2 around Mar 1958. The HC.2 was replaced by the Whirlwind HCC.8 in 1959, itself to be replaced by the Whirlwind HCC.12 in 1964, supplemented with the Whirlwind HAR.10 until 1969 while both were replaced by the Wessex, which as the HC.2, had started operations in 1967. In Apr 1969 the Wessex HCC.4 VIP version was introduced and served until the Flight was disbanded. In April 1995, the Queen's Flight was absorbed into 32 Squadron at RAF Northolt and it was renamed 32 (The Royal) Squadron to acknowledge the honour. Although the fixed wing component remains with 32 Squadron, the UK rotary wing element of Royal Flying is largely through a private contractor, operating the Royal Household's Sikorsky S-76 from Blackbushe. |
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