No. 200 Squadron of 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 ...

operated during the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The squadron was first formed in mid-1917 and during the First World War, it undertook a training role, before being disbanded in mid-1919. It was re-formed in 1941, and operated maritime patrol aircraft firstly from the United Kingdom, and then west Africa until early 1944 when it moved to India. In April 1945, the squadron was disbanded, having been renumbered No. 8 Squadron RAF.

First World War

No. 200 Depot Squadron Royal Flying Corps was formed at East Retford on 1 July 1917, it operated the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2 in the night flying training role. It was disbanded on 13 June 1919 at the end of the war.

Second World War

The squadron was formed on 25 May 1941 from a section of

No. 206 Squadron RAF No. 206 Squadron is a Test and Evaluation Squadron of the Royal Air Force. Until 2005 it was employed in the maritime patrol role with the Nimrod MR.2 at RAF Kinloss, Moray. It was announced in December 2004 that 206 Squadron would disband on ...

RAF Bircham Newton Royal Air Force Bircham Newton or more simply RAF Bircham Newton is a former Royal Air Force station located south east of Docking, Norfolk and north east of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. History The site was first used during the First Wo ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, the first

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and prim ...

patrol bomber A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), also known as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, or by the older American term patrol bomber, is a fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long durations over water in maritime patrol rol ...

s for the squadron arrived at the beginning of June. Later in the month the squadron deployed to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

and then to the

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

, where it flew convoy protection missions out of Jeswang, moving to

Yundum Yundum is a small town in Gambia, south of the capital, Banjul. It is situated adjacent to the country's international airport. The only airport in Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gam ...

in 1943 and re-equipping with the four-engined Consolidated Liberator VI bombers. Detachments of the squadron also flew from several other West African airfields in this period. In March 1944, the squadron redeployed to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

in India as part of South East Asia Command. It only carried out a few missions from Madras before moving to Bengal for special duties, mainly supplying and delivering guerrilla parties into Burma and Malaya. In April 1945 it was renumbered as No. 8 Squadron RAF and 200 Squadron was disbanded.

Victoria Cross

In August 1943, Flying Officer

Lloyd Allan Trigg Flying Officer Lloyd Allan Trigg VC DFC (5 May 1914 or 5 June 1914 – 11 August 1943), of Houhora, New Zealand, was a pilot in the RNZAF during World War II. He was a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gall ...

was awarded 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 an action in which his aircraft sank U-468, a German

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

. Flying out of

Banjul Banjul (,"Banjul"
(US) and ), officially the City of Ba ...

, the Liberator V he piloted

depth-charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use h ...

d the submarine, taking heavy anti-aircraft fire in the process and crashing into the ocean with the loss of all crew. The only survivors of the engagement were seven German crewmen, who commended the bravery of the aircrew, making this one of the few Victoria Crosses to have been awarded on the recommendation of an enemy officer (and the only VC to be awarded ''solely'' on enemy testimony).Ashcroft 2007, pp. 346–348

Aircraft operated

* 1941–1942 Lockheed Hudson IV * 1942–1943 Lockheed Hudson III and IIIA * 1942–1943 Lockheed Hudson VI * 1943–1944 Consolidated Liberator V * 1944–1945 Consolidated Liberator VI

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

No. 200 Squadron deployment history

{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 200 Squadron Raf 200 Squadron 200 Squadron Gibraltar in World War II