No. 242 (Canadian) Squadron RAF | |
---|---|
Active | 15 Aug 1918 – 15 May 1919 30 Oct 1939 – 10 Mar 1942 10 Apr 1942 – 4 Nov 1944 15 Nov 1944 – 1 May 1950 1 Oct 1959 – 30 Sep 1964 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | Royal Air Force |
Nickname(s) | Canadian |
Motto(s) | French: Toujours prêt ("Always ready") [1] |
Engagements | Battle of Britain, Invasion of Sicily, Berlin Airlift |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Douglas Bader Alan Eckford |
Insignia | |
Squadron Badge heraldry | A moose's head erased At the time that the badge was awarded, many of the air crew serving with the squadron were Canadian. [2] |
Squadron Codes | LE (Feb 1940 – Dec 1941, Apr 1942 – Nov 1944) KY (Nov 1944 – 1948) |
No. 242 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force (RAF) squadron. It flew in many roles during the First World War, Second World War and Cold War.
During the Second World War, the squadron was notable for (firstly) having many pilots who were either RCAF personnel or Canadians serving in the RAF – to the extent that it was sometimes known, unofficially, as "242 Canadian Squadron" – and (secondly) for being the first squadron to be commanded by Douglas Bader.
No. 242 Squadron was formed on 15 August 1918 [3] from the numbers 408, 409 and 514 Seaplane Flights at Newhaven Seaplane Base, and continued using the Short 184 from there and the nearby airfield at Telscombe Cliffs on anti-submarine patrols over the English Channel until the end of the First World War. [4]
The squadron was reformed at RAF Church Fenton on 30 October 1939 [5] with Canadian personnel. At first using the Bristol Blenheim and Fairey Battle, it converted to the Hawker Hurricane in February 1940. [3]
In May 1940 the squadron moved to RAF Coltishall [6] Douglas Bader was posted to command the Squadron, as a Squadron Leader, at the end of June 1940, when the unit was mainly made up of Canadian pilots that had suffered high losses in the Battle of France and had low morale. Despite initial resistance to their new commanding officer, the pilots (including such aces as Willie McKnight) were soon won over by Bader's strong personality and perseverance, especially in cutting through red tape to make the squadron operational again. [7] Upon the formation of No. 12 Group RAF, No. 242 Squadron was assigned to the Group while based at RAF Duxford.
In June 1940 it moved to RAF Coltishall in eastern England, as part of No. 12 Group RAF and was involved in the Battle of Britain. During this period 242 Squadron moved to RAF Duxford as part of the Duxford Wing, 12 Group's Big Wing formation. In 1941 it started offensive sweeps and bomber escorts and convoy patrols.
In December 1941 the squadron moved to the far East arriving at RAF Seletar on 13 January 1942. The situation was desperate and it had to move to Palembang on Sumatra where the squadron collapsed through lack of spares and was dispersed by 10 March 1942. [3] [4] On 29 December 1941 Pilot Officer M. C. Blanchard (RCAF) was reported missing believed killed after a mid-air collision off the coast of Ghar Hassan, Malta, during an operational flight. The collision was between Hurricane BE343 (Blanchard) and Hurricane BE344 (Flight Lieutenant Andrews (RCAF) who was later found safe).
On 10 April 1942 the squadron re-formed at RAF Turnhouse, Scotland with the Supermarine Spitfire and was involved in coastal patrols. In October it was deployed to North Africa defending Algiers. It fought into Tunisia then moved on to Malta and was involved in the invasion of Sicily and the Salerno beach-head operations. In 1944 it was moved to Syria for a rest period before moving to Corsica where it was part of the invasion of southern France and attacks on northern Italy. The squadron was disbanded in Italy on 4 November 1944. [3] [4]
The squadron reformed again on 15 November 1944 at RAF Stoney Cross as a transport squadron, training on the Vickers Wellington then getting operational on the Short Stirling. By 1946 it had become an operator of the Avro York running scheduled freight services into India and to the Azores; in June 1946 it was located at RAF Oakington as part of No. 47 Group. [8] In 1948 it became involved in the Berlin Air Lift operating from Wunstorf. After the air lift it returned to England and reequipped with Handley Page Hastings. The squadron was disbanded at RAF Lyneham on 1 May 1950. [3] [4]
On 1 October 1959 it was reformed at RAF Marham as a surface-to-air missile unit with the Bristol Bloodhound. It was tasked to protect the V bomber bases until disbanded on 30 September 1964. [3] [4]
From | To | Aircraft | Version |
---|---|---|---|
Aug 1918 | May 1919 | Short 184 | |
Aug 1918 | Jan 1919 | Airco DH.6 | |
Oct 1918 | Nov 1918 | Fairey Campania | |
Dec 1939 | Dec 1939 | Bristol Blenheim | Mk.If |
Dec 1939 | Feb 1940 | Fairey Battle | Mk.I |
Jan 1940 | Feb 1941 | Hawker Hurricane | Mk.I |
Feb 1941 | Feb 1942 | Hawker Hurricane | Mk.IIb |
Apr 1942 | Dec 1943 | Supermarine Spitfire | Mk.Vb |
Jul 1943 | Feb 1944 | Supermarine Spitfire | Mk.Vc |
Jun 1943 | Oct 1944 | Supermarine Spitfire | Mk.IX |
Jan 1945 | Feb 1945 | Vickers Wellington | Mk.XVI |
Feb 1945 | Jan 1946 | Short Stirling | Mk.V |
Apr 1945 | Sep 1945 | Avro York | C.1 |
Sep 1945 | Dec 1945 | Short Stirling | Mk.IV |
Dec 1945 | Sep 1949 | Avro York | C.1 |
Sep 1949 | May 1950 | Handley Page Hastings | C.1 |
Oct 1959 | Sep 1964 | Bristol Bloodhound | Mk.I |
The former Royal Air Force Station Kenley, more commonly known as RAF Kenley was an airfield station of the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and the RAF in the Second World War. It played a significant role during the Battle of Britain as one of the three RAF stations specifically tasked with the defence of London. It is located near Kenley on the edge of Greater London. The site remains in use with the Ministry of Defence, as Kenley Airfield.
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.
The Big Wing, also known as a Balbo, was an air fighting tactic proposed during the Battle of Britain by 12 Group commander Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and Acting Squadron Leader Douglas Bader. In essence, the tactic involved meeting incoming Luftwaffe bombing raids in strength with a wing-shaped formation of three to five squadrons. In the Battle, this tactic was employed by the Duxford Wing, under Bader's command.
Royal Air Force Coltishall, more commonly known as RAF Coltishall, is a former Royal Air Force station located 10 miles (16 km) North-North-East of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia, which operated from 1938 to 2006.
The Eagle Squadrons were three fighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force (RAF) formed with volunteer pilots from the United States during the early days of World War II, prior to America's entry into the war in December 1941.
No. 303 Squadron RAF, also known as the 303rd "Tadeusz Kościuszko Warsaw" Fighter Squadron, was one of two Polish squadrons that fought during the Battle of Britain along with No. 302 Squadron, of 16 total Polish squadrons in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. Flying Hawker Hurricanes, the squadron claimed the largest number of aircraft shot down of the 66 Allied fighter squadrons engaged in the Battle of Britain, even though it joined the fray two months after the battle had begun.
133 Squadron RAF was one of the famous Eagle Squadrons formed from American volunteers serving with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.
No. 310 Squadron RAF was a Czechoslovak-manned fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War.
No. 312 Squadron RAF was a Czechoslovak-manned fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War.
No. 302 Polish Fighter Squadron RAF was a Polish fighter squadron formed in Great Britain as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom in 1940. It was one of several Polish fighter squadrons fighting alongside the Royal Air Force during World War II.
Duxford Aerodrome is located 8 nautical miles south of Cambridge, within the civil parish of Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England and nearly 1-mile (1.6 km) west of the village. The airfield is owned by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) and is the site of the Imperial War Museum Duxford and the American Air Museum.
Army Aviation Centre (AAC) Middle Wallop is a British Army airfield located near the Hampshire village of Middle Wallop, used for Army Air Corps training. The base hosts 2 (Training) Regiment AAC and 7 (Training) Regiment AAC under the umbrella of the Army Aviation Centre. 2 (Training) Regiment performs ground training; 7 (Training) Regiment trains aircrew on AAC aircraft after they complete basic training at RAF Shawbury.
William Lidstone McKnight, was a Canadian aviator and flying ace of the Second World War. He was Canada's fifth-highest scoring ace of the war. McKnight joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in early 1939 and served in No. 242 Squadron RAF during the final phase of the Battle of France, covering the Allied retreat from Brittany, and later the Battle of Britain.
No. 611 Squadron is a British Royal Air Force squadron. It was first formed in 1936 and was disbanded in 1957 after seeing combat as a fighter unit during the Second World War. It was reformed as a reserve squadron in 2013.
426 Transport Training Squadron is a unit of the Canadian Forces under Royal Canadian Air Force, located at CFB Trenton in Trenton, Ontario. It originated as a squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) that fought during the Second World War as a bomber squadron.
No. 121 Squadron was a Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft squadron that during the Second World War was one of the three Eagle Squadrons manned by American volunteers. The squadron today is part of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets in Nuneaton.
No. 229 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force, and is an officially accredited Battle of Britain Squadron. It became No. 603 Squadron RAF in January 1945.
602 Squadron is a Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadron. Originally formed in 1925 as a light bomber squadron, its role changed in 1938 to army co-operation and in 1939 to that of a fighter squadron.
No. 401 Tactical Fighter Squadron, a.k.a. "City of Westmount" Squadron, is a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron based at CFB Cold Lake. During World War II it was a fighter squadron and is notable for having fought in the Battle of Britain. Postwar, the squadron operated in Canada as an auxiliary squadron, reserve squadron and a helicopter and training squadron. In 2015 it was reactivated as a Tactical Fighter Squadron.
Richard John Cork, was a fighter ace in the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Cork served in the Battle of Britain as the wingman for Douglas Bader of No. 242 Squadron RAF. When he returned to the Fleet Air Arm in 1941, Cork served with 880 Naval Air Squadron in the Arctic, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. It was during Operation Pedestal in 1942 that he became the only Royal Navy pilot to shoot down five aircraft in one day, and was the leading naval ace using the Hawker Hurricane. He was given command of the 15th Naval Fighter Wing aboard HMS Victorious before being killed in a flying accident over Ceylon in 1944.