No. 140 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) an ...

was a

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 opposi ...

photo-reconnaissance squadron that operated between 1941 and 1945.

History

Briefly formed during the First World War on 1 May 1918 at

RAF Biggin Hill London Biggin Hill Airport is an operational general aviation airport at Biggin Hill in the London Borough of Bromley, located south-southeast of Central London. The airport was formerly a Royal Air Force station RAF Biggin Hill, and a small ...

as a home defence squadron with Bristol F.2B Fighters, although by then German air-raids on south-east England had stopped and the squadron never went operational. It was disbanded on 4 July 1918. On 10 March 1941 1416 Flight was formed at

RAF Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Grea ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, equipped with six Supermarine Spitfire I PR Type G fighter-reconnaissance aircraft. The flight was part of

RAF Army Cooperation Command The RAF Army Co-operation Command was a short-lived command of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, comprising the army cooperation units of the RAF. The command was formed on 1 December 1940 when No. 22 (Army Co-Operation) Group, ...

and was intended to provide a dedicated reconnaissance resource to meet the demands of the British Army. The flight worked up and trained its crews during the spring and summer of 1941, supplementing its Spitfires with twin-engine

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 for longer-range operations from July. On 5 September the flight moved to

RAF Benson Royal Air Force Benson or RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located at Benson, near Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England. It is a front-line station and home to the RAF's fleet of Westland Puma HC2 support helicopters, us ...

, the base of No. 1 PRU and on 14 September it flew its first operational sortie when a single Spitfire photographed the town of

Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. Toponymy Saint-Vaast is the Norman name of Saint Vedast and Hougue is a Norman language word meaning a "mound" or "loaf" and comes from the Old No ...

on the

Cotentin Peninsula The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...

and nearby beaches. This was the first mission over France flown by Army Cooperation Command.Fletcher ''Aeroplane'' April 2017, pp. 24–26. No. 1416 Flight was redesignated No. 140 Squadron on 17 September 1941 at Benson, with an initial equipment of six Spitfires and six Blenheims, all fitted with cameras.Fletcher ''Aeroplane'' April 2017, p. 26. The squadron flew photo reconnaissance sorties over northern France, using the Spitfire during the day for both high- and low-level operations. Its Blenheims were mainly confined to flying at night owing to its vulnerability to German fighters.Fletcher ''Aeroplane'' April 2017, pp. 26–28. It was later equipped with specialized photo-reconnaissance versions of the Spitfire. In 1942 the squadron operated a detachment at RAF St. Eval in Cornwall to photograph the French ports on the Atlantic coast. The Blenheims were not very successful in the night role and were replaced in 1943 with

Lockheed Ventura The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II. The Ventura first entered combat in Europe as a bomber with the RAF in late 1942. Designated PV-1 by the United States Navy (US Navy), it entered combat in 1 ...

s, although these were not used much in operations. To support the forthcoming invasion of France the squadron was involved in detailed photography of coastal installations as well as photographing other targets and general mapping. With the introduction in 1943 of the

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden ...

the squadron was able to cover more ground and fly deeper into France. Later with the radar equipped Mosquito PR.XVIs they were able to carry out blind night photography. Mosquito photo-reconnaissance photoflash bomb loading WWII IWM C 4998

The squadron moved into France following the invasion to support the action and then into Belgium operating throughout the winter of 1944-45. The squadron's final operational tasks were to carry out shipping reconnaissance along the Dutch and German coasts and with the war in Europe finished the Squadron returned to England and was disbanded at

RAF Fersfield Royal Air Force Fersfield or more simply RAF Fersfield (originally known as RAF Winfarthing) is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Norwich, Norfolk, England. History Built in 1943/1944, the airfield was originally a satell ...

on 10 November 1945.

Aircraft operated

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links