'Red Hand' FLIERS

摘要

For generations, Ulster has been a fertile if somewhat idiosyncratic recruiting and proving ground for the UK's military. Perhaps this might explain why 502 was the first of the 21 squadrons to be formed in response to the Auxiliary Air Force and Air Force Reserve Act of 1924 and why it was also the longest-lived of the five Special Reserve organisations. The unit was officially formed on May 15,1925, the Air Ministry decreeing that it should make use of unoccupied buildings and hangars at Aldergrove, 12 miles (19km) north west of Belfast. The airfield was a former World War One Aircraft Acceptance Park that had not been used by the RAF since February 1923.