No. 663 Squadron AAC

No. 663 Squadron AAC
Active	24 October 1969 - present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Army Air Corps
Part of	3 Regiment Army Air Corps 16 Air Assault Brigade
Base	Wattisham Airfield
Motto(s)	We fly for the guns.
Equipment	AgustaWestland Apache
Insignia
Squadron badge heraldry	An Eagle displayed holding a snaffle bit

No. 663 Squadron AAC is a flying unit of the British Army's Army Air Corps (AAC).

Previous history

No. 663 Squadron RAF had been formed in northern Italy on 14 August 1944, as an Air Observation Post (AOP) unit, manned by Polish officers and men, to spot for allied artillery units located in that war zone. The unit left for the UK on 10 October 1946 and it was formally disbanded on 29 October.^[1] 663 Squadron was reformed as a Royal Auxiliary Air Force (R.Aux.A.F.) AOP unit on 1 July 1949, manned by Territorial Army artillery officers and men. It was based at RAF Hooton Park, Cheshire, with detached flights. The R.Aux.A.F was disbanded on 10 March 1957.^[2]

Army Air Corps history and operations

663 Squadron AAC Westland Scout AH.1 in 1969

The unit was reformed as 663 interim Aviation Squadron in October 1969 at ]Perham down from 3flt AAC and the the air troop of 15/19 Hussars and 5 Lt Regt RA commanded by Maj Bill Duthoit the Flt commanders being Capt J Orde and Capt Morley RA. Its allocated mission was to support army formations in the Salisbury Plain area. The unit's initial equipment was the Bell Sioux AH.1 helicopter, with these being later replaced by the Westland Scout AH.1 turbine helicopter. On 1 January 1973 the unit was renamed No. 663 Squadron AAC. The Squadron again disbanded in July 1977.

Following a restructuring of Army Air Squadrons, 660 Squadron was redesignated as 663 Squadron, part of 3 Regiment Army Air Corps, based at Soest. From 1993 it has been based at Wattisham Airfield near Stowmarket, Suffolk. In recent years it has replaced its Westland Gazelles with Westland-assembled Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. More recently, the squadron has served in the Iraq War (Operation Telic) and in Afghanistan (Operation Herrick).

References

Citations

↑ Halley 1988, p. 450
↑ Scholefield 1998, p. 51

Bibliography

Halley, James J. (1988), The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918–1988, Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, ISBN 0-85130-164-9
Scholefield, R.A. (1998), Manchester Airport, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-1954-X

External links

Main Page

Army Air Corps (units)

Airfields

Regular units

1 Regiment	No. 652 Squadron AAC No. 661 Squadron AAC

3 Regiment	No. 653 Squadron AAC No. 662 Squadron AAC No. 663 Squadron AAC

4 Regiment	No. 656 Squadron AAC No. 664 Squadron AAC

5 Regiment	No. 651 Squadron AAC No. 665 Squadron AAC

9 Regiment	No. 659 Squadron AAC No. 669 Squadron AAC No. 672 Squadron AAC

Army reserve units

6 Regiment	No. 675 (The Rifles) Squadron AAC No. 677 (Suffolk and Norfolk Yeomanry) Squadron AAC No. 678 (The Rifles) Squadron AAC No. 679 (The Duke of Connaught's) Squadron AAC

Training units

2 (Training) Regiment	No. 668 (Training) Squadron AAC No. 676 Squadron AAC

7 (Training) Regiment	No. 670 Squadron AAC No. 671 Squadron AAC No. 673 Squadron AAC No. 25 Flight AAC (Kenya)

Other

660 Squadron AAC (Defence Helicopter Flying School)
667 Squadron AAC (Development and Trials)
674 Squadron AAC (Defence Elementary Flying Training School)
Army Historic Aircraft Flight
The Band Of The Army Air Corps
Army Flying Grading
Blue Eagles Display Team
The Army Air Corps Parachute Display Team

Independent Flights

No. 7 Flight AAC (Brunei)
No. 29 (BATUS) Flight AAC (Alberta, Canada)

Independent Squadrons

657 Squadron (RAF Odiham) (Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing (JSFAW))
658 Squadron (Credenhill Barracks) (JSFAW)

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