RAF Patch j 56 Squadron Royal Air Force Phantom FGR 2 Groundcrew

RAF Patch 56 Squadron Royal Air Force Firebirds Groundcrew 1980s Phantom FGR 2 RAF Coningsby Embroidered on twill merrowed edge 114mm by 90mm four and one eighth inches by three and nine sixteenth inches.

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Badge  A phoenix approved by King Edward VIII in July 1936 The phoenix was chosen to reflect the Squadrons ability to reappear intact regardless of the odds. 

Motto  Quid si coelum ruat  What if the heavens fall 

Unit history 1976 1992  

56 Squadron ended the war flying Tempest fighters over Northwest Europe under 2TAF disbanding on 31 March 1946 and reactivating at RAF Bentwaters on 1 April 1946 equipped with Meteor F III jet fighters on the renumbering of 124 Squadron. 56 Sqn relocated to RAF Waterbeach upgrading to Meteor F 8 in 1952 and Swift fighters in 1953. The Squadron received Hunter F 5s in 1955 and relocated to RAF Wattisham in September 1957.   

56 Squadron reequipped with Lightning F 1As in 1960 and created the Firebirds Display Team in 1963. The Squadron relocated to RAF Akrotiri in 1967 and returned to RAF Wattisham in 1975.  

In 1976 No 56 Squadron exchanged their Lightnings for McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR 2s for the Air Defence role and shared their base of RAF Wattisham initially with No 23 Squadron with Phantom FRG 2s and subsequently on 23 Squadrons departure to the Falkland Islands in 1982 with 74 Squadron and their ex US Navy Marine F 4J UK.   

No 56 Squadron disbanded in 1992 while the Tornado Operational Conversion Unit 229 OCU was renumbered as No 56 Reserve Squadron at RAF Coningsby training crew and aircrew converting from other aircraft types to the Tornado F3. The Squadron moved to RAF Leuchars in March 2003. 56 R Squadron disbanded on 18 April 2008 reactivating as 56 R Squadron at RAF Waddington under Air Warfare Centre on the numbering of the Air Command and Control Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Test Evaluation Squadron Air 2CIRTES. 

This patch dates from the 1980s.