SQUADRILLE SPA 160 "RED DEVIL"

The 160 squadron was created on January 25, 1918 in execution of an order from GHQ dated December 30, 1917. In accordance with the rules in force, the squadron, equipped on departure with planes Nieuport 24 and 27 (24 with modified train), will take the name of N160, from the initial of the type of aircraft with which it is equipped. In May 1918, once equipped withSpad VIIet XIII, it was renamed SPA 160, a name it kept until the end of the Great War, and still to this day, according to the traditions of the Air Force.

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The N160 was first attached to the 2nd Army, which occupied a sector to the left and right of Verdun, where it remained until September 1918, without taking part in any of the major offensives of this period. It then forms with squadrons 82, 158 and 161 the Combat Group 23 (GC 23) assigned to the 6th Army and which cooperates with the Belgian Army.
During this last part of the war, she took part in the Second Battle of Belgium. At the end of the conflict, it counted four enemy aircraft shot down in the lines, officially approved and deplored the loss of two pilots, the MDL Lavaud and the SGT Fuoc. On March 18, 1919, SPA 160 was dissolved for the first time.

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It was reborn on May 1, 1939 within GC II/4 as the 3rd squadron at the time of general reinforcement in anticipation of the inevitable war against Nazi Germany. The 160 is equipped with the single-seat fighter Curtiss H.75. The 160 was quick to deplore a first victim from the start of the Blitz with the disappearance of the SLT Tixier-Vignancourt on May 10, 1940. Others quickly followed despite fierce opposition from GC II/4. On May 25, they are the SGT Dietrich  and the ADJ Valley which perish under the enemy assaults. On June 7, the CNE Guieu, commander of the 160, disappears in turn.
Withdrawal after withdrawal, the GC II / 4 is cornered and, in good order, crosses the Mediterranean to land in Oran before joining Meknes. On August 30, following the armistice agreement, GC II/4 was dissolved and its squadrons were put on hold.

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The SPA 160 is again activated on January 1, 1950 as the first squadron of EC 3/4 FLANDRES equipped with the small single-seater DH.100 "Vampire"  and based in Friedrichshafen. This revival was short-lived since FLANDRES was dissolved in 1957 and the 160 returned to the limbo of dormant squadrons.

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On June 27, 1986, it was on the Colmar base and on Mirage IIIBE that the "Red Devil" resurfaced. The 160 then became the 4th squadron of EC 1/13 ARTOIS whose main mission was the transformation of pilots sur Mirage III, hence the presence of two-seaters B and BE. The phasing out of the first Air Force Delta resulted in a reduction in the training format and 160 was disbanded again in 1989.

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The SPA 160 reappeared in 1991 as the 3rd squadron of EC 2/4 La Fayette on the air base of Luxeuil. The unit is then equipped with the latest nuclear projection vector, le Mirage 2000N. The relocation of the squadron to Istres in September 2011 and the reduction in the number of aircraft in service (by transferring nuclear capacity toEC 1/4 GASCONY newly formed on Rafale) leads to a dormancy which is, however, only temporary because the increasing activity of ETR 3/4 AQUITAINE leads to its recreation as 3rd squadron in the summer 2016 on Rafale.