No. 353 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, active during

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 ...

carrying out maritime patrol and transport tasks.

History

No. 353 Squadron was formed on 1 June 1942 at

Dum Dum Dum Dum is a city and a municipality of Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of Kolkata urban area and also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Etymology During the 19th ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

from 62 Squadron RAF and 103 (Coast Defence) Flight, Indian Air Force. The squadron was engaged in coastal patrols over the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...

equipped with

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and p ...

aircraft. In August 1943 the squadron moved to

Palam Palam (phonetically Pālam) is a major residential colony located in South West Delhi. The Indira Gandhi International Airport, formerly known as '' Palam Airport'', the main airport of National Capital Region is situated here. It is one of 70 Vi ...

and was assigned to transport duties. From 1944 onwards the squadron re-equipped with

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 ...

s, and also operated a number of

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCA ...

aircraft, which were replaced with Expeditors in January 1945. The squadron became fully Dakota equipped by April 1945, but disbanded at

RAF Mauripur RAF Mauripur was a Royal Air Force station in British India 4 miles north west of the centre of Karachi. It is now known as Masroor Airbase. History RAF Mauripur opened in 1942 as a transit airfield allowing RAF Drigh Road to concentrate on ...

on 1 October 1946.

Aircraft operated

Squadron bases

Commanding officers

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Squadron history on (old) MOD site

Squadron history on (new) MOD site

{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 353 Squadron Raf Aircraft squadrons of the Royal Air Force in World War II 353 Squadron Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946