No. 621 Squadron RAF

No. 621 Squadron RAF
Active	12 Sep 1943 – 1 Sep 1946
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Role	Reconnaissance Air-sea rescue
Part of	British Forces Aden [1]
Motto(s)	Ever Ready to Strike
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	A hooded cobra [2]

No. 621 Squadron RAF was a reconnaissance squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II, flying from Somaliland and Aden. It was after the war stationed in Egypt and Palestine and tasked with air-sea rescue and was also active in Operation Sunburn, looking for illegal immigrants.

History

No. 621 Squadron RAF was formed at Port Reitz, Kenya, on 12 September 1943 ^[3] as a general reconnaissance unit equipped with 16 Wellington XIIIs, with a role of carrying out maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine duties over the western Indian Ocean and the coasts of East Africa. ^{[4] [5]} In October 1943, the squadron moved to Mogadishu, Somalia, and in November, supplemented its normal duties by being tasked to look for four thousand stolen camels on behalf of the army. ^[5] In December 1943, the squadron moved to RAF Khormaksar, Aden. ^[2]

In a more serious series of sorties, the squadron managed to knock out the German submarine U-852, but at the beginning of 1945 activities had dropped so low that the squadron was reduced from 16 to 8 aircraft. In November the squadron converted to Warwicks and started in Operation Sunburn, looking for illegal immigrants into Palestine. In April to squadron moved to Palestine and converted to Lancasters. Shortly after it had completed that conversion the squadron was disbanded at RAF Ein Shemer by being re-numbered to No. 18 Squadron RAF on 1 September 1946. ^{[2] [3] [6]}

The present 621 Volunteer Gliding Squadron has no links with 621 Squadron, and in fact traces its lines back to No. 87 Glider School RAF. ^{[7] [8]}

Aircraft operated

Aircraft operated by No. 621 Squadron RAF ^{[2] [5] [6]}

From	To	Aircraft	Variant
September 1943	January 1945	Vickers Wellington	Mk.XIII
January 1945	December 1945	Vickers Wellington	Mk.XIV
March 1945	November 1945	Vickers Warwick	GR.5
April 1946	September 1946	Avro Lancaster	ASR.3 (special air-sea rescue version)

Squadron bases

Bases and airfields used by No. 621 Squadron RAF ^{[2] [5] [6]}

From	To	Base	Remarks
12 September 1943	4 November 1943	Port Reitz, Kenya	Detachment at Mogadishu, Italian Somaliland
4 November 1943	5 December 1943	Mogadishu, Italian Somaliland	Detachments at Scusciuban, Italian Somaliland; Bandar Kassim, Italian Somaliland and RAF Riyan, Aden Protectorate
5 December 1943	12 November 1945	RAF Khormaksar, Aden	Detachments at Scuscuiban, Italian Somaliland; Bandar Kassim, Italian Somaliland; Riyan, Aden Protectorate; RAF Socotra, Aden Protectorate and Mogadishu, Italian Somaliland
12 November 1945	20 April 1946	RAF Mersa Matruh, Egypt	Detachments at RAF Aqir, Palestine and RAF Benina, Libya
20 April 1946	6 June 1946	RAF Aqir, Palestine
6 June 1946	1 September 1946	RAF Ein Shemer, Palestine

Commanding officers

Officers commanding No. 621 Squadron RAF ^[5]

From	To	Name
September 1943	December 1944	W/Cdr. P. Green, OBE, AFC
December 1944	November 1945	W/Cdr. F.T. Gardiner, DFC
November 1945	February 1946	S/Ldr. G. Schofield
February 1946	September 1946	W/Cdr. B.E. Peck, DFC

References

Notes

1. Delve 1994, pp. 76, 83.
2. Halley 1988, p. 438.
3. Lake 1999 , pp. 272–273.
4. Thomas 1986 , p. 1178
5. Rawlings 1982 , p. 242
6. Jefford 2001 , p. 102.
7. "History of 621 VGS". 621 Volunteer Gliding Squadron. 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
8. Lake 1999 , p. 113.

Bibliography

• Delve, Ken (1994). The Source Book of the RAF. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing. ISBN   1-85310-451-5.
• Halley, James J. (1988). The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918–1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN   0-85130-164-9.
• Jefford, C.G. (2001). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912 (2nd ed.). Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd. ISBN   1-85310-053-6.
• Lake, Alan (1999). Flying units of the RAF. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN   1-84037-086-6.
• Rawlings, John D.R. (1982). Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd. ISBN   0-7106-0187-5.
• Thomas, Andrew (4–17 April 1986). "Guardians of the Aden Gulf: No.621 (GR) Squadron, Royal Air Force". Aviation News . Vol. 14, no. 23. pp. 1178–1180.

External links

• History of 621 Squadron on RAF website
• Airfields, operating dates and aircraft types for No.621 Squadron RAF, 1939–45
• History of No.'s 621–650 Squadrons at RAF Web