Number 54 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. On 1 September 2005, it took on the role of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Operational Conversion Unit, and is now the Advanced Air ISTAR Academy, responsible for training all RAF crews assigned to the MQ-9A Reaper, Protector RG1 (MQ-9B), Shadow R1/R2, RC-135W Rivet Joint and Poseidon MRA1. It also controls the RAF ISR Warfare School (ISRWS) who run the Qualified Weapons Instructor Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and QWI Reaper Courses.
Serny, France, November 1918. A score board recording the claims for enemy aircraft destroyed by No. 80 Wing RAF from July–November 1918, including 54 Squadron
Pilots of 54 Squadron, May 1941 gathered round a Supermarine Spitfire Mark IIA Rochford, Essex. On the wing sits their commanding officer, Squadron Leader, R F Boyd, with the squadron mascot "Crash". Boyd had at this time destroyed 14 enemy aircraft. At the end of July 1941, he was promoted wing leader of the Kenley Wing, and by the end of his tour in the summer of 1942 had increased his score to at least 22.5.
Vampire fighters
Hawker Hunter FGA.9 ground attack aircraft of 54 Squadron in 1968 wearing the unit's blue rampant lion marking on its nose
Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force station located beside the village of Waddington, 4.2 miles (6.8 km) south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, in England.
The RAF's first Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joint arrives at RAF Waddington in November 2013
RFC Waddington training station
An Avro Lancaster of No. 463 Squadron RAAF at RAF Waddington in 1944. It completed sixty seven missions and twice returned safely with half the tail plane shot away.
During his visit to RAF Waddington in June 1944, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, meets the crews of No. 467 Squadron RAAF.