No. 525 Squadron 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 ...

transport aircraft squadron that operated during the

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 ...

History

The squadron was formed on 1 September 1943 at

RAF Weston Zoyland RAF Westonzoyland is one of the country's oldest airfields being established in the early 1920s. Somerset, England. The airfield is located approximately east-southeast of Bridgwater; about west-southwest of London. It was opened in 1925 ...

to operate the

Vickers Warwick The Vickers Warwick was a multi-purpose twin-engined British aircraft developed and operated during the Second World War. In line with the naming convention followed by other RAF heavy bombers of the era, it was named after a British city or ...

in the transport role. It first operated on the routes from England to Gibraltar and North Africa, but the Warwick was not the best aircraft for the role and it was withdrawn in 1944. The Warwick was replaced with the

Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

and one example of the Mark III transport version of the former four-engined heavy bomber, the

Short Stirling The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Stirling was designed during t ...

. The squadron soon operated on routes throughout Europe and also became mainly manned by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

personnel. By the end of the war it was mainly operating routes to

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 ...

. The Canadians withdrew at the end of the war, but the squadron continued with trooping flights. On 1 December 1946 the squadron was disbanded at

RAF Abingdon Royal Air Force Abingdon or more simply RAF Abingdon was a Royal Air Force station near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It is now known as Dalton Barracks and is used by the Royal Logistic Corps. History The airfield was opened in 1932, initially as ...

, when it was re-numbered to 238 Squadron.

Aircraft operated

Squadron airfields

Commanding officers

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * * * * * *

External links

No. 525 Squadron history at old MOD site

No. 525 Squadron history at new MOD site

{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 525 Squadron Raf Aircraft squadrons of the Royal Air Force in World War II

525 __NOTOC__ Year 525 ( DXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Probus and Philoxenus (or, less frequently, year 1278 '' ...