No. 270 Squadron RAF was a
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 ...
squadron that operated both in the First and Second World Wars mainly as an anti-shipping and anti-submarine squadron.
First World War
No. 270 Squadron was formed in April 1919 from three flights (354, 355 and 356) of the Royal Naval Air Service based at
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
with floatplanes and flying boats. The main role was coastal reconnaissance which it continued to do until it was disbanded on 15 September 1919 when it was absorbed into
269 Squadron.
Second World War
The squadron was re-formed on 12 November 1942 at
RAF Jui, in
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
, with the
PBY Catalina, Consolidated Catalina flying boat.
[Jefford 1988, pp. 81-82] It flew sorties into the mid-Atlantic on anti-submarine patrols, sinking a U-boat in January 1943. It was also tasked with finding ships trying to break the blockade on Vichy France ports. The squadron had detachments at
RAF Bathurst, Gambia, and
Fisherman's Lake, Liberia.
In July 1943 the squadron moved to Lagos, Nigeria to be based at
RAF Apapa, at the end of that year it re-equipped with the four-engined
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 ...
.
The squadron operated detachments at
RAF Jui, Abidjan and Libreville.
The squadron was disbanded, after the war in the Atlantic had ended, on 30 June 1945 at Apapa, Nigeria.
Aircraft operated
[Jefford 2001, p. 84.]
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
* Jefford, C.G. ''RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1988.
* Jefford, C.G. ''RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. .
External links
No 266 – 270 Squadron Histories
{{Royal Air Force
270