No. 203 Squadron RAF was originally formed as No. 3 Squadron

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

. It was renumbered No. 203 when the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

was formed on 1 April 1918.

History

First World War

The squadron can be traced to The Eastchurch Squadron, which formed

Eastchurch Eastchurch is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Sheppey, in the English county of Kent, two miles east of Minster. The village website claims the area has "a history steeped in stories of piracy and smugglers". Aviation history Eastchu ...

in February 1914. After mobilisation at the start of WWI it was renamed No.3 Wing RNAS, and then later as No.3 (Naval) Squadron. In March 1915, the squadron, under the command of Commander

Charles Samson Air Commodore Charles Rumney Samson, (8 July 1883 – 5 February 1931) was a British naval aviation pioneer. He was one of the first four officers selected for pilot training by the Royal Navy and was the first person to fly an aircraft fr ...

, moved to the island of

Tenedos Tenedos (, ''Tenedhos'', ), or Bozcaada in Turkish language, Turkish, is an island of Turkey in the northeastern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively, the island constitutes the Bozcaada, Çanakkale, Bozcaada district of Çanakkale Provinc ...

, and began operating 18 aircraft in support of the Gallipoli Campaign. In the first weeks of the campaign they took over 700 photographs of the peninsula, and conducted other ground support tasks including spotting for naval gunfire, and reporting the movements of Ottoman troops. On 21 June 1915, the squadron became No. 3 Wing RNAS and was moved to

Imbros Imbros or İmroz Adası, officially Gökçeada (lit. ''Heavenly Island'') since 29 July 1970,Alexis Alexandris, "The Identity Issue of The Minorities in Greece And Turkey", in Hirschon, Renée (ed.), ''Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1 ...

. On 19 November, during a raid against a railway junction near the

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Richard Bell Davies Vice Admiral Richard Bell Davies (19 May 1886 – 26 February 1966), also known as Richard Bell-Davies, was a senior Royal Navy commander, naval aviator, and a First World War recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry ...

won the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for landing to rescue a pilot who had been shot down, in the face of intense enemy fire. The squadron returned to the UK at the end of 1915, and was disbanded. A new No. 3 Squadron was formed at Saint Pol on 5 November 1916 from elements of No. 1 Wing RNAS. It then served as a fighter squadron on the Western Front. Among the numerous types of aircraft it was equipped with were the

Nieuport 17 The Nieuport 17 C.1 (or Nieuport XVII C.1 in contemporary sources) was a French sesquiplane fighter designed and manufactured by the Nieuport company during World War I. An improvement over the Nieuport 11, it was a little larger than earlier N ...

Nieuport 21 The Nieuport 21 (or Nieuport XXI C.1 in contemporary sources) was a French single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft used during World War I. The aircraft was used by the French, Russian, British and American air forces. After the war, the Nie ...

, and

Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristi ...

, followed later by the

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

. Among its notable Officers Commanding were Canada's first ace,

Redford Mulock Air Commodore Redford Henry Mulock, (11 August 1886 – 23 January 1961) was a Canadian aviator and flying ace. He was the first Canadian flying ace of the First World War and the first in the Royal Naval Air Service, achieving five aerial victo ...

; Lloyd S. Breadner, future Air Marshal of the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

;

Raymond Collishaw Raymond Collishaw, (22 November 1893 – 28 September 1976) was a distinguished Canadian fighter pilot, squadron leader, and commanding officer who served in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and later the Royal Air Force. He was the highest ...

, sixth scoring ace of the war; and Tom F. Hazell, the Royal Air Force's tenth scoring ace of the war. The squadron produced a number of other notable aces, including Leonard Henry Rochford; Arthur Whealy; James Alpheus Glen; Edwin Hayne; William Sidebottom; Frederick C. Armstrong;

Joseph Stewart Temple Fall Joseph Stewart Temple Fall, (17 November 1895 – 1 December 1988) was a Canadian aviator, military officer, and First World War flying ace credited with 36 aerial victories. Early life Fall was born into a farming family on Vancouver Island, B ...

;

Harold Beamish Harold Francis Beamish, (7 July 1896 – 16 October 1986) was a New Zealand flying ace of the First World War. Born in 1896 at Hastings, Beamish joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1916. His training was completed by early 1917 and he was p ...

; future Air Marshal

Aubrey Ellwood Air Marshal Sir Aubrey Beauclerk Ellwood, (3 July 1897 – 20 December 1992) was a senior Royal Air Force commander. RAF career Educated at Marlborough College, Ellwood joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1916. During his service as a fighter ...

; John Joseph Malone; John Denis Breakey;

Frederick Britnell Frederick John Shaw Britnell (16 April 1899 – 1980) was a flying ace in the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force during World War I. He was credited with nine aerial victories. He returned to service for World War II, remaining in the ...

; Francis Casey; Australia's highest scoring ace,

Robert A. Little Robert Alexander Little, (19 July 1895 – 27 May 1918), a World War I fighter pilot, is generally regarded as the most successful Australian flying ace, with an official tally of forty-seven victories. Born in Victoria, he ...

;

Harold Spencer Kerby Air Vice Marshal Harold Spencer Kerby, (14 May 1893 – 8 June 1963) was Canadian-born air officer of the Royal Air Force. He served in the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War, where he became a flying ace with nine confirmed a ...

;

Alfred Williams Carter Alfred Williams Carter MBE DSC (29 April 1894 – 17 December 1986) was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 17 victories. The son of David and Martha Carter, Alfred Carter was born near Calgary and enlisted in D ...

; and Herbert Travers. Eleven of the squadron's 23 aces were Canadian. The squadron claimed about 250 aerial victories during World War I.

Inter-war years

On 21 January 1920, the squadron disbanded. In 1929 the squadron reformed as a reconnaissance squadron operating

Supermarine Southampton The Supermarine Southampton was a flying boat of the interwar period designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Supermarine. It was one of the most successful flying boats of the era. The Southampton was derived from the experime ...

flying boats.

Second World War

Shortly before the start of the war the squadron was re-equipped with Short Singapore IIIs and in 1940 with

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until ...

s. The squadron flew patrols over the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

from

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

. At the end of 1941 the squadron operated Bristol Blenheim IV,

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

from various bases in Western Egypt, flying patrols from the Libyan coast out as far as

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

. In 1942 the squadron re-equipped with

Martin Baltimore The Martin 187 Baltimore was a twin-engined light attack bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company in the United States as the A-30. The model was originally ordered by the French in May 1940 as a follow-up to the earlier Martin Maryland, then ...

aircraft and was involved in operations in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. In 1943 the squadron was posted to

RAF Santacruz RAF Santacruz was a Royal Air Force airfield in Bombay (now called Mumbai), then British India which saw extensive use in World War II. History The Airfield was constructed in the 1930s when the nearby Juhu Aerodrome, located close by, could ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and was re-equipped with

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

s to fly coastal patrols. The squadron converted to

Consolidated Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

aircraft in November 1944 and began anti-shipping patrols over the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...

Post war

The squadron returned to the UK in 1947 and re-equipped with

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

s. In July 1954, the squadron was flying Neptune MR.2s from

RAF Topcliffe Royal Air Force Topcliffe or RAF Topcliffe is a Royal Air Force station in North Yorkshire, England. It was established as a RAF Bomber Command station in 1940. The British Army took over a large part of the site in 1974 and the airfield beca ...

, along with No.s No. 36 and No. 210 Squadrons as part of No. 19 Group,

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

. The squadron remained a Maritime Reconnaissance squadron for the remainder of its existence operating

Avro Shackleton The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a devel ...

s and then

Hawker Siddeley Nimrod The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod is a retired maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It was an extensive modification of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first operational jet airliner. It was originally designed ...

s from RAF Luqa between July 1971 and December 1977. The squadron disbanded on 31 December 1977 at

RAF Luqa Royal Air Force Luqa was a Royal Air Force station located on the island of Malta, now developed into the Malta International Airport. It hosted aircraft of Air Headquarters Malta (AHQ Malta) during the Second World War. Particularly during ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, by which time it was part of No. 18 Group within

RAF Strike Command The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007 when it merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air C ...

Sea Kings

The squadron was reformed in October 1996, when the Sea King Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) at

RAF St Mawgan Royal Air Force St Mawgan or more simply RAF St Mawgan is a Royal Air Force station near St Mawgan and Newquay in Cornwall, England. In 2008 the runway part of the site was handed over to Newquay Airport. The remainder of the station continues to ...

in Cornwall was redesignated 203(R) Squadron as a reserve unit. In 2008, 203(R) Squadron relocated to

RAF Valley Royal Air Force Valley or more simply RAF Valley ( cy, Llu Awyr Brenhinol Y Fali) is a Royal Air Force station on the island of Anglesey, Wales, and which is also used as Anglesey Airport. It provides both basic and advanced fast-jet training ...

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

, maintaining its role as the Sea King OCU and operating the Sea King HAR.3 until it was disbanded on 14 September 2014 following the withdrawal of the Sea King from RAF service.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{RAF squadrons 203 03 Squadron No. 203 Military units and formations in Aden in World War II Military units and formations in Mandatory Palestine in World War II R Military units and formations established in 1914 Maritime patrol aircraft units and formations Military units and formations disestablished in 2014