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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1838.PDF
FLIGHT, 30 December 1955 Twenty-five years of distinguished service, including two wars, have gained for No. 201 San. the standard illustrated (right). It was presented (below) by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore at a parade at the squadron's base at Pembroke Dock on December 16th. A STANDARD FOR No. 201 SQN. A Flying-boat Unit Honoured 961 ON December 16th No. 201 Sqn. received its standard fromAir Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, G.C.B., D.S.O.,who was the squadron's first commanding officer, at a parade at its base at Pembroke Dock, South Wales. During itslong existence, dating from October 1914, the squadron has built up a record of achievements which fully justifies its pride of placeas the first squadron in the Royal Naval Air Service. The battle honours selected to appear on the squadron standard are WesternFront 1915-1918, Arras, Ypres 1917, Somme 1918, Norway 1940, Atlantic 1941-1945, Bismarck and Normandy 1944. Detailed histories of this famous unit appeared in Flight in1934, 1944, and 1952, but a summary of its achievements is not out of place on the occasion of the presentation of the standard.The present number, 201, shows that it was one of the R.N.A.S. squadrons incorporated into the R.A.F. on its formation in April1918. It had, indeed, started life as No. 1 Sqn., R.N.A.S., and had performed valuable work from October 1914 onwards. Mem-bers of the squadron destroyed two Zeppelins, one of them (LZ.37) by bombing it in full flight. They had shared in the first instance of damage to a U-boat by aircraft at Zeebrugge and, in August1915, they had for the first time destroyed a U-boat at sea by bombing. But No. 1 Sqn. became No. 1 Wing with "A" and"B" Sqns. including flights of fighters, reconnaissance aircraft and bombers. "A" Sqn. was detached and finally was once morenamed No. 1 Sqn. when it flew in support of the Army in December 1916. In chose early years its tasks were many and its equipmentincluded Bristol Scouts, Wights, Avro 504s, Sopwiths, Vickers, Curtiss Jennies, Bleriots, Maurice Farman seaplanes, MoraneCaudrons, Nieuport two-seaters, B.E.2Cs, Sopwith Triplanes and Camels. The last two types it retained from 1916 until its dis-bandment on December 31st, 1919. For 10 years the squadron number lapsed until, in 1929, No. 480(Coastal Reconnaissance) Flight, stationed at Calshot on the Solent, was renamed No. 201 (Flying Boat) Sqn. and equippedwith Southampton Mk. Us. The routine of peacetime continua- tion training began, but was relieved, as is always the case withflying-boats, by a rather greater proportion of interesting assign- ments than usual. Already the flying-boat had the versatilityand the flexibility of operation which make its threatened dis- appearance now so unfortunate. In June 1937, for example, thesquadron was able to fly four nursing sisters non-stop from England to Gibraltar to assist in caring for wounded from theGerman battleship Deutschland which had been damaged off Spain. At this time new equipment arrived in the form of Saro Londonsand the unit was based at Long Hope in the Orkneys. The gather- ing storm of World War II caused a move in September 1938 tothe squadron's war station at Invergordon, but the more peaceful associations continued when, in May the following year, thesquadron was affiliated to the Island of Guernsey. The flying-boat crews are cheerful and resourceful, combining as they do the skillsand arts of the sailor and the airman, and flying-boat people seem to make good friends. While the Guernsey affiliation, therefore,has been maintained ever since, a very strong bond of friendship was forged with the inhabitants of Lerwick more recently. Afterall, a better ambassadorial aerodyne than a large flying-boat has yet to be developed. In June 1939 the Londons moved again, this time to Sullom Voeand began regular patrols over the North Sea. The squadron is proud of the fact that the long and arduous hours of anti-submarine patrolling, which constituted its not insignificant con- tribution to the war effort, included some of the first operationalflights of the war and the last operational anti-submarine patrol. Two Londonb were on patrol at 1100 hr on September 3rd whenBritain declared war and, 20,000 flying hours later on June 3rd- 4th, 1945, a Sunderland completed the last Coastal Commandp3trol of the war. Hostilities had, of course, ceased in Europe with V.E. Day on May 8th, but precautionary anti-submarinepatrols were maintained for four weeks after that date. The first Sunderlands had arrived only in March 1940 and after that No. 201Sqn. was successively issued with the Mk. 2, 3 and 5 versions and operated alternately from Pembroke Dock in South Walesand Castle Archdale in Northern Ireland. Altogether the squad- ron sank five U-boats and shared in the sinking of a sixth. Patrolwork had been varied in May 1941 by the order to help in the shadowing of the German battleship Bismarck during the actionwhich led to its destruction. After the war, the squadron was not disbanded and it has sincethen continued as one of the few flying-boat units left in the R.A.F.
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