7:00am Saturday 5th April 2008
By Jack Royston
PERSONNEL of a Northolt air force base will be marching through Hillingdon this weekend as a branch of the armed forces celebrates its 90th anniversary.
RAF Northolt's Freedom of Entry into the Borough of Hillingdon Parade falls 90 years after the Royal Air Force (RAF) was founded.
Dave Jeffrey, a welfare officer of the Battle of Britain Society, said: "It helps make the community aware of the fact that we still have a large RAF presence in the borough and how much RAF Uxbridge and Northolt did during the Battle of Britain."
Members of the Queens Colour Squadron and 32 (The Royal) Squadron will be among the servicemen from RAF Uxbridge and Northolt marching down Ruislip High Street at 1pm on Saturday, April 5.
They will be wearing full uniform and accompanied by former Battle of Britain pilots.
RAF Northolt first came into use in 1915, when it was run by the Royal Flying Corps, and was a base for fighter pilots defending London from Germany's Zeppelin bombers.
In the 1930s it was the first base for the Hawker Hurricane but the defining period of its history came during World War Two when it was home to Spitfire Squadrons and the Polish wing of the RAF.
Its Spitfire pilots helped defend Britain during the Battle of Dunkirk, when they lost five in three days, while the No 303 Polish Squadron shot down more German planes than any other during the Battle of Britain.
Sergeant Josef Frantisek, one of its members, shot down more planes than any other pilot.
But the base took on a civillian role after the war while Heathrow Airport was being built and by 1952 was the busiest airport in Europe.
It is now home to a number of squadrons including the 32 (The Royal) Squadron and the Engineering Squadron.
RAF Northolt is currently being expanded to bring a number of other Ministry of Defence buildings onto the same site.
The RAF was formed on April 1, 1918, during the final months of World War One and took over RAF Northolt in the same year.
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