Fliegerstaffel 1

The Fliegerstaffel 1 fighter squadron 1 of the Swiss Air Force was equipped with Northrop F-5  and  professional military pilots, which belonged to the Überwachungsgeschwader. Their home base at the dissolution was the military airfield Turtmann. The  Fliegerstaffel 1 carried as coat of arms the side view of a stylized Vogel Rokh on shield-shaped red ground with the white number 1 in the background.

Early years
A first precursor was set up in 1913 as a pioneer company 1. At that time, the Kriegstechnische Abteilung (KTA) rented some machines from private ownership for experimental and evaluation purposes, e.g. A Blériot XI owned by Oskar Bider. On the outbreak of the First World War, the aircraft groups, now designated as Military Aircraft Division 1, did not have a single aircraft of their own. Imports from abroad were no longer possible because of the war. The first commander of the aircraft groups, Hptm (Captain) Theodor Real, had to requisition aircraft from private ownership. The first real combat aircraft was a German aircraft who made an emercency  landing 1916 in Bettlach, an interned Fokker D.II. In 1917, five Nieuport 23 aircraft, built in France, were bought and remained operational until 1921. From 1920 a total of 27 used Fokker D.VII were bought, which together with the Häfeli DH-5, developed and built in Switzerland, formed the stock for the first two aircraft squadrons.

Development from 1924
In 1924, the Fliegerkompanie 1 was set up and started with the Häfeli DH-5 and Fokker D-VII to operate from the airfields of Lucerne, Payerne, Seedorf and La Chaux-de-Fonds. In 1933, the Fokker CV was added to it, and the C-3603  in 1942. The renaming into Fliegerstaffel 1 took place 1945, however already 1946, with the move to Payerne changed the name into the French designation  Escadrille 1  and the aircraft type Morane D-3800 came into use. From 1951 to 1959 the Escadrille 1 used it's the first jet aircraft, the De Havilland D.H. 100 Vampire, at the Payerne Air Base.

In 1955, the return to Dübendorf and the change of name back to Fliegerstaffel 1 took place. Between the main entrance of the Dübendorf Air Base and the bus stop in the direction of Wangen stands a monument with the easiest emblem of Fliegerstaffel 1, Vogel Rokh.

In 1959, the Hawker Hunter was re-trained on the war time airbase. The Fliegerstaffel 1 was chosen to show the Hawker Hunter in the formation flight to the public. Until 1964, the display team of the Fliegerstaffel 1 showed more and more demonstrations. The team consisted of Hptm Brunold, Oblt Pellanda, Lt Spychiger and Adj Brülhart. The aerobatics team of the  Fliegerstaffel 1 was renamed Patrouille Suisse in 1964 on the occasion of the Expo 64. However, the Fliegerstaffel 1 itself existed with its military taskstogether wit a part of it as Patrouille Suisse. In 1981, the Fliegerstaffel 1 get equipped with the Tiger F-5 and moved to the military airfield Turtmann, where the aircraft was operated from the aircraft cavern (but the Patrouille Suisse still used the Hawker Hunter). 2003 was the last WK in Turtmann. On completion of the WK in 2003 the military airfield Turtmann was shut down and the runways, shelters and taxiways were later rebuilt, the cavern served to store old M113 armored personnel carrier. The Fliegerstaffel 1 was after this disbanded. However, until the end of 2015, the "Fliegerstaffel 1" remained "existing" in the form of the member Daniel "Dani" Hösli. This is because he was the commander of the Patrouille Suisse until the end of 2015, and he always was a part of the Fliegerstaffel 1 and did not changed to an other Sqadron after the disbanding of the Fliegerstaffel 1.