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The Royal Air Force |
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Croydon Aerodrome |
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World
War 2 |
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Page Two |
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Squadrons
of the RAF and RCAF that used Croydon during WW2 and their aircraft |
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Squadron |
Type |
Year |
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1. |
Hurricane |
1941 |
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1. RCAF. |
Hurricane |
1940 |
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3. |
Hurricane |
1939, 1940 |
|
17. |
Hurricane |
1939, 1941 |
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72. |
Spitfire |
1940 |
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85. |
Hurricane |
1940 |
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92. |
Spitfire, Blenheim |
1939, 1940 |
|
111. |
Hurricane |
1940 |
|
116. |
Spitfire |
1943, 1944 |
|
145. |
Blenheim |
1939, 1940 |
|
147. |
Dakota, Anson |
1944, 1945,1946 |
|
167. |
Defiant |
1945, 1946 |
|
271. |
Dakota |
1945 |
|
285. |
Spitfire |
1943, 1944 |
|
287. |
Various |
1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 |
|
302. |
Spitfire |
1942 |
|
317. |
Spitfire |
1942 |
|
401.RCAF. |
Spitfire |
1941 |
|
414. |
Lysander |
1941, 1942 |
|
435. |
Dakota |
1945, 1946 |
|
437. |
Dakota |
1945, 1946 |
|
501. |
Hurricane |
1940 |
|
605. |
Hurricane |
1940, 1941 |
|
607. |
Hurricane |
1940 |
|
615. |
Gladiator |
1939 |
|
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A 'Hurricane'
forced down at Croydon in 1940 |
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No3
Squadron. |
|
Formed on the 13th of May
1912. No. 3 Squadron was one of the founding squadrons of the
Royal Flying Corp in 1912. By 1939, it was a fighter squadron
equipped with the Hawker Hurricane. Over the winter and spring
of 1939-40 it was retained the Great Britain, but when the great
German offensive began on the 10th of May 1940, No. 3 Squadron
was one of several extra units rushed to France. Ten days later
the squadron was back in the U.K., having lost almost its entire
strength during the collapse. In April 1941 the squadron moved
back south, beginning two years of night fighter duties. Single
engined fighters were not really suited to the night fighter
role, lacking the space for the AI radar or the endurance to
carry out lengthy patrols. Even so, No. 3 Squadron remained on
this duty until June 1943, when as a Typhoon squadron it went
onto the offensive, attacking enemy shipping and flying day and
night intruder missions over France and the Low Countries June-September
1944 saw the squadron diverted to defensive operations against
the V-1 Flying Bomb, having recently received the Hawker Tempest.
At the end of the V-1 offensive, the squadron moved to the continent,
joining the 2nd Tactical Air Force and carrying out fighter-bomber
sweeps behind enemy lines for the rest of the war (this duty
was known as "armed reconnaissance", with the emphasis
on the "armed"). Was at Croydon from the 17th of September
until the 10th of May 1940. |
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|
A Hurricane
of No3 Squadron in 1942 |
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No85
Squadron. |
|
No. 85 Squadron was formed from A Flight
of No. 87 Squadron on the 1st of June 1938 as a fighter squadron.
For the first four months of its existence the squadron was equipped
with the Glostor Gladiator, before receiving the Hawker Hurricane
in September 1938. In September 1939 the squadron moved to France
with the Air Component of the BEF. The squadron suffered heavily
during the Battle of France, losing all but four of its aircraft
in the twelve days between the start of the German offensive
and its return to Britain. The RAF took advantage of the lull
in air operations during and immediately after the rest of the
German campaign in France, and by early June was operational
again. The squadron took part in the first half of the Battle
of Britain. It was stationed at Croydon from the 19th of September
until the 3rd of August 1940. |
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A Hurricane
of No85 Squadron. June 1940 |
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No85 Squadron
Hurricane's in formation October 1940 |
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No
92 Squadron. |
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No. 92 (East India) Squadron reformed on
the 10th of October 1939 after a gap of twenty years. At first
it was equipped with the Bristol Blenheim Mk IF, but this was
the phoney war period, and the squadron saw little action until
May 1940, by which time it had received the Supermarine Spitfire
Mk I. The squadron went operational with the Spitfire on the
9th of May 1940, just in time to take part in the desperate fighting
over France during May and June 1940. Operated from Croydon from
December 1939 to May 1940. |
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No92 Squadron
Spitfire 1941 |
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(Below) No92 Sqdn. Arrival of their new Spit's March 1940. |
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No111
Squadron. |
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No.111 Squadron was the first RAF squadron
to receive the Hawker Hurricane, and served as a fighter squadron
throughout the Second World War, taking part in the campaign
in France in 1940, the Battle of Britain, Operation Torch and
the invasions of Italy and the south of France. The squadron
had been reformed as a fighter squadron on the 1st of October
1923, and had been equipped with a series of biplanes, including
the Grebe, Snipe, Siskin, Bulldog and Gauntlet. The Hurricanes
arrived in January 1938, giving them a year and a half to become
proficient with the new monoplane fighter before the outbreak
of the Second World War. At first the squadron was based in the
south of England, where rogue barrage balloons were its main
opponent - the squadron managing to shoot down eleven of them
on the 4th of October 1939. The squadron was also involved in
the fighting over Dunkirk, and in the early phase of the Battle
of Britain, when it gained a reputation for carrying out daring
head-on attacks on German bombers. After suffering heavy losses
in August the squadron was moved north to rest in mid-September,
moving back south in the summer of 1941 to take part in fighter
sweeps across Northern France. By this point the Hurricanes had
been replaced by Spitfires. Operated from Croydon from May through
August 1940. |
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No111
Squadron Hurricanes refueling |
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No145
Squadron. |
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No.145 Squadron was a fighter squadron
that fought in the Battle of Britain and the cross-channel sweeps
of 1941 before moving to the Mediterranean, where it took part
in the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, ending the
war as a fighter-bomber squadron. The squadron reformed on the
10th of October 1939 at Croydon as a fighter squadron. Its first
aircraft, some Blenheim fighters, arrived in November 1939, but
they were replaced with Hurricanes in March 1940. The squadron
entered combat during the fighting in France in May 1940. A section
from the squadron joined No.85 Squadron on 13-14th of May, and
another flight moved to France on the 16th of May, operating
alongside a flight from No.601 Squadron. Operated from October
1939 to May 1940. |
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(above) Bristol Blenheim Mk1. 1939 |
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(above) A Spitfire of No145 Squadron |
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No287
Squadron |
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No501
Squadron. |
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No.501 ‘County of Gloucester’
Squadron was a fighter squadron that was originally formed as
part of the Special Reserve in 1929, and that took part in the
Battle of Britain, the period of offensive sweeps over occupied
Europe and the anti V-1 campaign. During June and July 1940 it
operated from Croydon |
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Hurricanes
of No501 Squadron |
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Spitfire
of No501 Squadron |
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Tempest
of No501 Squadron |
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No605
Squadron. |
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On the 7th of September 1940 the squadron
moved to Croydon (No.11 Group), and remained there for the rest
of the year. It thus took part in the fourth phase of the Battle
of Britain (the daylight raids on London) and the final fighter-bomber
phase. |
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A Hurricane
of No605 Squadron |
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No615
Squadron |
|
No.615 (County of Surrey) Squadron was
a fighter squadron that took part in the Battle of Britain and
the early sweeps over France before moving to Burma, where it
performed a mix of offensive and defensive duties for the rest
of the war. It operated from Croydon September and November 1939 |
|
(below) Squadron Leader Arthur Vere Harvey of 615 squadron,
poses for the camera at RAF Croydon in late 1939. Harvey formed
615 'County of Surrey' squadron in 1937, and stayed with them
until 1940. He survived the war and became a Conservative MP
in 1945. He was later made a Life Peer and became Baron Harvey
of Prestbury in 1971. Arthur Vere Harvey died in Guernsey in
1994 aged 88. |
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(below) Hawker Hector of 615 Sqdn 'County Of Surrey' R.A.F.
1937 |
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(below) Airman of 615 Squadron cooked, ate and slept near
their aircraft.
Here Aircraftsman Lloyd gives a haircut alongside a Gloster Gladiator.
It was March 1940 before modern Hurricanes and Spitfires arrived
at Croydon. |
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(below) 615 Sqdn AA Machinegun Post in 1939 |
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(below) 615 Sqn digging trenches 1939 |
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(above) 615 Squadron Hurricane |
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(above) A damaged Hurricane of 615 Squadron.
August 1940 |
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No1
Squadron RCAF. |
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One of the early squadrons to be
stationed at Croydon. The RCAF’s No 1 (Fighter) Squadron
is the only Canadian squadron that took part in the Battle of
Britain. Transferred overseas in June 1940, the pilots went through
intensive training to be up to the level of their RAF counterparts
before being sent to the front. In their Hurricanes, the pilots
of No 1 Squadron had their first encounter with the enemy on
the 23rd of August 1940, and took part in the action until the
8th of October. In 1941, No. 1 (F) Squadron was renamed No. 401
Squadron and transitioned to new aircraft (later-model Hurricanes
and early Spitfires). The squadron ended the war as the top-scoring
unit within the RAF’s 2nd Tactical Air Force, with 186 ½
kills—29 of which were from 1940 under the old No. 1 Squadron
monika. |
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(below) No1 Sqdn RCAF July 1940 |
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No1 Squadron
'Royal Canadian Airforce'. |
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No401
Squadron RCAF. |
|
The squadron moved south in February 1941.
It was here on the 1st of March that No 1 Squadron RCAF was re-numbered
to No. 401 Squadron. The squadron had replaced its Hurricanes
with Spitfires Mk IIs in September 1941, Mk Vs in late 1941 and
in July 1942 some of the first examples of the new Mk IX. Operating
from Digby with No 12 Group Fighter Command until October 1941,
it saw little action, but it then moved south to RAF Biggin Hill
and remained in 11 Group (Croydon was also in 11 Group) carrying
out offensive operations over Occupied Europe until January 1943.
On the 5th of October 1944 Spitfires of 401 Squadron were the
first to encounter and shoot down a German ME262 jet fighter. |
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(above) 401 Sqdn RCAF |
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Spitfire
of No401 Squadron RCAF |
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By late 1941 Croydon was
being used by 'Army Co-Operation Squadrons'. By 1943 it was being
used by 'Support & Transport' units. After 'DDay'
on the 1st of September 1944 Croydon became
the London base for 'No147 Squadron RAF Transport Command', and
was later joined by 'No1 Aircraft Delivery Flight'. It saw use
again by civil aircraft after their departure on the 15th of
September 1946, and was only
used again by the RAF as one of the transfer bases by 'Transport
Command' in 1948 for the 'Berlin Airlift'. |
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Croydon
Aerodrome in 1945 |
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97 Sqdn
ATC 1945 |
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(below) An RAF letter from the Airport
in July 1946 |
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