Number 201 Squadron is a 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 ...

. It currently operates the Boeing Poseidon MRA1 from RAF Lossiemouth,

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

. It is the only

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

affiliated with

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

, in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. This affiliation started in 1935 and is commemorated in the museum on

Castle Cornet Castle Cornet is a large island castle in Guernsey, and former tidal island, also known as Cornet Rock or Castle Rock. Its importance was as a defence not only of the island, but of the roadstead. In 1859 it became part of one of the breakwaters ...

. Its history goes even further back than the RAF itself, being formed originally as No. 1 Squadron RNAS on 17 October 1914. It had previously operated the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR2, based at RAF Kinloss, Moray, between January 1982 and March 2010.

History

Formation and World War I

Despite its high squadron number, 201 Squadron is one of the oldest squadrons in the RAF. It was formed as No. 1 Squadron of the

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 ...

(RNAS) on 17 October 1914, and reformed under that designation on 6 December 1916,Jefford 2001, p. 70. only being renumbered to 201 Squadron on the formation of the RAF on 1 April 1918 – all the RNAS squadrons getting new numbers by adding 200 to their original number. A

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 ...

was won by a member of No. 1 Squadron RNAS when on 7 June 1915 Sub-Lieutenant R.A.J. Warneford shot down

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

LZ.37. After the war the squadron was disbanded at

RAF Eastleigh East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

on 31 December 1919. Eighteen flying aces served in the squadron during the course of the war, including such notables as Samuel Kinkead,

Stanley Wallace Rosevear Stanley Wallace Rosevear DSC & Bar (9 March 1896 – 25 April 1918) was a Canadian First World War flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aeri ...

Richard Minifie Richard Pearman Minifie, (2 February 1898 – 31 March 1969) was an Australian fighter pilot and flying ace of the First World War. Born in Victoria, he attended Melbourne Church of England Grammar School. Travelling to the United Kingdom, he en ...

Roderic Dallas Roderic Stanley (Stan) Dallas, (30 July 1891 – 1 June 1918) was an Australian fighter ace of World War I. His score of aerial victories is generally regarded as the second-highest by an Australian, after Robert Little, b ...

, George Gates,

Reginald Brading Captain Reginald Carey Brenton Brading (14 May 1899 – 26 July 1926) was a British World War I flying ace credited with thirteen confirmed aerial victories. Early life Reginald Carey Brenton Brading was born in Croydon on 4 May 1899. Aerial ...

Maxwell Findlay Captain Maxwell Hutcheon Findlay (17 February 1898 – 1 October 1936) was a Scottish World War I flying ace credited with 14 aerial victories. He remained in the RAF postwar for several years before going on to a civilian aviation career that en ...

, Cyril Ridley,

Thomas Gerrard Thomas Gerard (1500?–1540) (Gerrard, also Garret or Garrard) was an English Protestant reformer. In 1540, he was burnt to death for heresy, along with William Jerome and Robert Barnes. Life He matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, ...

, John Jones,

James Henry Forman Captain James Henry Forman DFC (1 February 1896 - 4 October 1972) was a World War I Canadian flying ace credited with nine aerial victories. He was personally decorated by his king for his valor. After leaving military service in the 1920s, he w ...

, Charles Dawson Booker,

Thomas Culling Flight Lieutenant Thomas Grey Culling DSC (31 May 1896 – 8 June 1917) was New Zealand's first flying ace of the First World War. Born in Dunedin, New Zealand, Culling joined the Samoa Expeditionary Force following the outbreak of the First Wor ...

, future Air Vice-Marshal F. H. Maynard, Robert McLaughlin, and Hazel Wallace. Reginald Warneford portrait 3

Flying boat squadron

The squadron was reformed at

RAF Calshot Royal Air Force Calshot or more simply RAF Calshot was initially a seaplane and flying boat station, and latterly a Royal Air Force marine craft maintenance and training unit. It was located at the end of Calshot Spit in Southampton Water, Hamp ...

on 1 January 1929 by expanding no. 480 Flight, a

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 boat unit. In April 1936 the Southamptons gave way to the Saro London, which the squadron still had on strength when

World War II 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 ...

broke out. Supermarine Stranraers flew shortly with the squadron in 1939, but by April 1940 the squadron was operational on the

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North East ...

, which would remain the squadron equipment for almost seventeen years up till 28 February 1957, when the squadron was disbanded at RAF Pembroke Dock.Rawlings 1982, p. 129.

Shackletons and Nimrods

The squadron was reformed 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 t ...

, when

No. 220 Squadron RAF No. 220 Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF) was founded in 1918 and disbanded in 1963 after four separate periods of service. The squadron saw service in both the First and Second World Wars, as a maritime patrol unit, and finally as part of Brit ...

was renumbered to 201 Squadron. The squadron flew the next twelve years with the Avro Shackleton MR.3, a version that used a

tricycle undercarriage Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle ge ...

as opposed to the earlier tailwheel variants. Following the Shackleton's retirement, the squadron converted to Nimrods in October 1970. HS Nimrod MR

The squadron was active for over a decade in the

Gulf region The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body ...

, in support of both

Gulf War 1 The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

and 2 and more recently the conflict in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. Until March 2010, the squadron was also on active duty in the UK and maintained continuous 24-hour/365-day search and rescue standby, shared with the sister 120 Squadron, both flying from RAF Kinloss. The Nimrod MR2 was withdrawn in March 2010, and the squadron was formally disbanded on 26 May 2011. It had been preparing to operate the

Nimrod MRA4 The BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 was a planned maritime patrol and attack aircraft intended to replace the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR2. The rebuilt aircraft would have extended the operating life of the Nimrod fleet by several decades and signific ...

but this aircraft was cancelled under the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Reformation

In July 2017, it was announced that No. 201 Squadron would be one of two RAF squadrons to fly the

P-8A Poseidon The Boeing P-8 Poseidon is an American maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and derived from the civilian Boeing 737-800. It was developed for the United States Navy (USN). Th ...

, based at RAF Lossiemouth. It was later confirmed the squadron would stand up in the 'Summer of 2021' operating in the role and at location as previously stated. No. 201 Squadron reformed on 7 August 2021, reclaiming their Squadron Standard from Government House in

on 22 October.

Notable squadron members

Reginald Alexander John Warneford Reginald Alexander John Warneford, VC (15 October 1891 – 17 June 1915), also known as Rex Warneford, was a British aviator and Royal Naval Air Service officer who received the Victoria Cross for air-bombing a Zeppelin during the First World ...

(

) *

(Royal Naval Air Service) *

(Royal Naval Air Service) * John Harris (

), Officer Commanding 1973–75

Aircraft operated

The squadron has operated the following aircraft types.Halley 1971, p. 43.Halley 1988, p. 260. * Various (Oct 1914 – Feby 1915) *

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 ...

(Dec 1916 – Jan 1917) * Sopwith Triplane (Dec 1916 – Dec 1917) *

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 ...

(Dec 1917 – Feb 1919) * Sopwith Snipe (Oct 1918 – Oct 1918) * Supermarine Southampton Mk.II (Jan 1929 – Dec 1936) * Saro London Mk.I (Apr 1936 – Jun 1938) * Saro London Mk.II (Jan 1938 – 1938) * Short Sunderland Mk.I (Apr 1940 – Jan 1942) * Short Sunderland Mk.II (May 1941 – Mar 1944) * Short Sunderland Mk.III (Jan 1942 – Jun 1945) * Short Sunderland Mk.V (Feb 1945 – Feb 1957) * Short Seaford Mk.I (Mar 1946 – Apr 1946) * Avro Shackleton MR.3 (Oct 1958 – Dec 1970) * Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod MR.1 (Oct 1970 – Feb 1983) * BAe Nimrod MR2 (Jan 1982 – Mar 2010) * Boeing Poseidon MRA1 (Aug 2021 – present)

Squadron bases

Battle honours

No. 201 Squadron has received the following

battle honours A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military t ...

. Those marked with an asterisk (*) may be emblazoned on the squadron standard. *

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

(1915–1918)* *

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

* *

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...

(1917)* *

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France *Somme, Queensland, Australia *Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), a ...

(1918)* *

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

* Hindenburg Line * Channel & North Sea (1939–1945) *

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

(1940)* *

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

(1941–1945)* * Bismarck* * Biscay (1941–1945) *

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

(1944)* *

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

(1982) *

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...

(1991) *

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

(2003) *

(2001–2014)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Ashworth, Chris. ''Encyclopedia of Modern Royal Air Force Squadrons''. Wellingborough, UK: Patrick Stevens Limited, 1989. . * Bowyer, Michael J.F. and John D.R. Rawlings. ''Squadron Codes, 1937–56''. Cambridge, UK: Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1979. . * Flintham, Vic and Andrew Thomas. ''Combat Codes: A full explanation and listing of British, Commonwealth and Allied air force unit codes since 1938''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 2003. . * Halley, James J. ''Famous Maritime Squadrons of the RAF, Volume 1''. Windsor, Berkshire, UK: Hylton Lacy Publishers Ltd., 1973. . * Halley, James J. ''The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918–1988''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. . * Jefford, C.G. ''RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing, 2001. . * Lewis, Peter. ''Squadron Histories: R.F.C, R.N.A.S and R.A.F., 1912–59''. London: Putnam, 1959. * Rawlings, John D.R. ''Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft''. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982. . * Rawlings, John D.R. ''Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft''. London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1969 (new edition 1976, reprinted 1978). . *

External links

Squadron page on castlearchdale.net

MoD website

{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 201 Squadron Raf 201 Squadron 01 Military units and formations established in 1914 Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force in World War I Aircraft squadrons of the Royal Air Force in World War II Maritime patrol aircraft units and formations Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the Falklands War Guernsey 1914 establishments in the United Kingdom Military units and formations disestablished in 2011