No. 32 Squadron RAF
Royal Air Force flying squadron, operating the RAF's Command Support Air Transport fleet
No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron, also known as No.XXXII Squadron, is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It operates the Dassault Envoy IV CC1 in the Command Support Air Transport role, transporting VIPs and carrying out general air transport roles. It is based at RAF Northolt in Greater London, England.
Originally formed in 1916 as part of the Royal Flying Corps, the squadron saw action during the First and Second World Wars with fighter aircraft, but was disbanded in 1969. The Metropolitan Communications Squadron, involved in the VIP transport role, was renamed as No. 32 Squadron at that time. In 1995, the squadron was merged with the Queen's Flight, and incorporated 'The Royal' title into its name. At this time, the squadron moved from RAF Benson in Oxfordshire to RAF Northolt in Greater London, where it remains.
The merger ended the RAF's provision of dedicated VIP transport aircraft; the squadron's aircraft are available to VIP passengers only if they are not needed for military operations.
“No. 32 Squadron RAF” enters the record as royal Air Force flying squadron, operating the RAF's Command Support Air Transport fleet. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Squadron, Royal and Force can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12064262. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1916, 1969 and 1995.
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This entry incorporates text from “No. 32 Squadron RAF” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.