No. 181 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) an ...

Squadron formed as a fighter-bomber unit in

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 opposing ...

History

Formation

The squadron formed on 25 August 1942 at

RAF Duxford Duxford Aerodrome is located south of Cambridge, within the civil parish of Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England and nearly west of the village. The airfield is owned by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) and is the site of the Imperial War Mus ...

and was supplied with Hurricane and Typhoon aircraft. The squadron operated the Typhoons from several locations in the United Kingdom including

RAF Appledram RAF Appledram is a former Royal Air Force Advanced Landing Ground southwest of Chichester, West Sussex and east of Portsmouth, Hampshire. History The airfield was an Advanced Landing Ground for Operation Overlord (the invasion of German-occup ...

RAF Snailwell Royal Air Force Snailwell or more simply RAF Snailwell is a former Royal Air Force station located near to the village of Snailwell, Cambridgeshire, located north of Newmarket, Suffolk, England. History * USAAF 347th Fighter Squadron Ope ...

RAF Lasham Lasham is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is northwest of Alton and north of Bentworth, just off the A339 road. The parish covers an area of and has an average elevation of above sea level. ...

RAF Odiham RAF Odiham is a Royal Air Force station situated a little to the south of the village of Odiham in Hampshire, England. It is the home of the Royal Air Force's heavy lift helicopter, the Chinook, and of the King’s Helicopter Flight (TKHF) . ...

and

RAF Hurn Royal Air Force Hurn or more simply RAF Hurn is a former Royal Air Force station located approximately north west of Christchurch, Dorset, England Opened in 1941, it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. D ...

. The squadron attacked

V-1 V1, V01 or V-1 can refer to version one (for anything) (e.g., see version control) V1, V01 or V-1 may also refer to: In aircraft * V-1 flying bomb, a World War II German weapon * V1 speed, the maximum speed at which an aircraft pilot may abort ...

flying bomb launch sites and supported the Normandy landings in June 1944, then moved to France where it followed the Allied advance across Europe, seeking targets of opportunity. The squadron disbanded in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

on 30 September 1945.

Aircraft operated

Hawker Typhoon Mk IB loaded with rocket projectiles and fuel tanks

References

External links

History of No.'s 181–185 Squadrons at RAF Web

181 Squadron history on the official RAF website
{{Royal Air Force

181 Year 181 ( CLXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Burrus (or, less frequently, year 934 '' Ab urbe condi ...

Military units and formations established in 1942