RDAF Patch Royal Danish Air Force 721 Esk C 130 Test Team Av

RDAF Patch Esk 721 Squadron Royal Danish Air Force C 130 Avionics Update Test Team Patch C 130 Hercules 2007 Aalborg AB Embroidered on twill merrowed edge 90mm three and one half inches diameter.

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Squadron History 

Royal Danish Air Force Flyvevabnet was formed on 1 October 1950 by merging the Danish Naval Air Service Marinens Flyvevæsen and the Danish Army Air Corps Hærens Flyvertropper. 

Eskadrille 721 Squadron was activated on the same day 1 October 1950 from 1 and 2 Luftflotille of the Danish Naval Air Service and the Greenland flight of the Danish Army Air Corps equipped with PBY 5 Catalina aircraft tasked with transport search and rescue and support for operations in Greenland. Esk 721 moved to Vaerlose Air Base on 1 May 1956 with detachments at Aalborg Skrydstrop and Sondrestrom. In October 1959 the Squadron extended its Catalina presence on Greenland to provide year round detachments at Narssarssvag as Air Group West round until a hangar fire in November 1963 following which the detachment reverted to summer sea landings at Narssarssvag with Sondrestromfjord which had hangar facilities in the winter. Air Group East had three Catalinas based in Greenland in the summer two at Narssarssvaq in the south and one from the gravel strips at Mestersvig and Station Nord and water landings were commonplace. The Squadron undertook Atlantic and Arctic Sea operations flown from Vagar on the Faro Islands and Keflavik Naval Air Station Iceland.

The Squadron received C 47 Dakotas and C 54 Skymasters in the early 1960s with the PBY 5 Catalina flying boats retiring in 1970. Esk 721 added three C 130 H Hercules transport aircraft to its fleet in 1973. In 1982 the Squadron replaced its C 47 Dakotas and C 54 Skymasters with Gulfsteam III aircraft to carry out fisheries inspection maritime and coastal surveillance policing peacekeeping imi searches and ambulance flights. Challenger CL 604 replaced the Gulfsteams in 1998.

721 Squadron relocated to Aalborg Air Base Flyvestation in 2004 when the RDAF stations were allocated specific centralised roles and Aalborg became Air Transport Wing Aalborg and replaced its C 130 H with three advanced stretched C 130 J Super Hercules transport aircraft with a fourth C 130 J received in 2007. 721 Esk is the only full Squadron allocated to Air Transport Wing Aalborg providing tactical transport with its C 130 J Super Hercules and VIP transport maritime reconnaissance surveillance and fishery protection with 3 CL 604 Challenger and 4 T 17 Supporter aircraft. Air Transport Wing Aalborg also has a Search and Rescue SAR EH 101 Merlin helicopter detachment from Esk 722.

Eskadrille 721s C 130 Hercules began regular rotational deployments to Afghanistan in 2005 based at Kabul International Airport KAIA providing transport and cargo services to the Danish military during rotations in support of ISAF operations. In January 2012 the Squadron pooled one of its C 130 J Super Hercules aircraft as RDAF 1 139 Detachment with the RAF Hercules Detachment at Kandahar Airfield providing transport for Danish UK and other ISAF personnel and assets to Camp Bastion and Helmand province.

This patch dates from 2007.