Awarded: August 2002
Blazon: An Upland Goose in flight proper
Link: The Upland Goose was chosen to symbolise 1312 Flight for a number of reasons; first, it is a large bird with an association with the larger aircraft types flown by the flight, the Hercules and VC10 aircraft. The bird is unique to the Falkland Islands and the role of 1312 Flight is inextricably linked to supporting the Islands in the maritime reconnaissance, transport, logistic and air-to-air refuelling tasks
Motto: Uphold the right
History: Formed as No 1312 (Transport) Flight at Llandow on 19 April 1944, disbanding on 21 July 1944. It reformed at Abingdon on 14 September 1954 as No 1312 (Transport Support) Flight until it disbanded again on 1 April 1957. It reformed again at Stanley in the Falkland Islands as No. 1312 (In Flight Refuelling) Flight on 20 August 1983 and remains current. (Jun 2016)
Sponsored by Sqn Ldr B. K. Hinton, ex-Officer Commanding, 2007, Royal Air Force Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, dedicated to all who served.
Simon Ludlow was involved in the design of the Badge, he recalls:
“It takes effort to get a badge made and authorised. I designed as submitted for approval the 1312flt badge. From the initial idea of designing the badge to getting royal approval took three years. Thinking of the design and motto, designing the badge, doing the initial artwork, writing and submitting the approval and subsequent correspondence is a lot of work.
In about 2000, myself and the boss at the time (can’t recall his name) were talking over a tea in the 1312 crewroom at MPA. We had noticed the Officers Mess has the station, 78 Sqn and 1435 Flt crests, but there was none for 1312 as we had never been awarded one. We decided to resolve this. A little research found the process, so I got to work. We decided on the Upland Goose as an emblem as 1435 had the Cassin’s Falcon as theirs and keeping the theme, a large bird seemed appropriate. The motto ‘Uphold the Right’ was taken from the Island’s ‘Desire the Right’ and was in keeping with other units at MPA. The design finally got Royal approval in 2003, after I had left the RAF.”