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Defunct flying squadron of the Royal Air Force
Military unit
No. 321 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF
was a unit of the
Royal Air Force
during the
Second World War
formed from the personnel of the
Marineluchtvaartdienst
(MLD), the
Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service
.
History
[
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]
Formation
[
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]
Formed on 1 June 1940 at
RAF Pembroke Dock
, the squadron moved to
RAF Carew Cheriton
on 28 July 1940 and became operational. The squadron flew coastal and
anti-submarine
patrols with
Avro Ansons
until the squadron was disbanded, due to lack of personnel, and merged with
No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron
on 18 January 1941.
Catalinas
[
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]
The squadron was re-activated at RAF
Trincomalee
,
Ceylon
on 15 August 1942. It was equipped with
Consolidated Catalinas
, which were crewed by MLD personnel who escaped to Ceylon. The squadron's headquarters was located at
RAF China Bay
with detachments based in
Mombasa
,
Cocos Islands
,
Socotra
,
Masirah
,
Ceylon
,
Durban
,
Port Elizabeth
,
Aden
and
Cape Town
. Supplemented with
Consolidated Liberators
in July 1945, the air echelon moved to
Cocos Island
in preparation for
Operation Zipper
, the proposed invasion of
Malaya
.
After the Japanese surrender, relief flights and supply drops to thousands of internees in the POW camps were flown to
Java
and
Sumatra
, and in October the squadron moved to its new base near
Batavia
, where the squadron passed to MLD control on 8 December 1945, keeping the same squadron number,
No. 321 Squadron MLD
. Along with 320 Squadron, it flew maritime patrol missions from Valkenburg for decades afterwards. The Squadron was disbanded in January 2005 due to budget cuts.
[1]
Aircraft operated
[
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]
[2]
[3]
[4]
Commanding officers
[
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]
From
|
To
|
Name
|
Jun 1940
|
Aug 1940
|
Lt/Cdr. H. Kolff
|
Aug 1940
|
Oct 1940
|
Lt/Cdr. M.G. Smalt
|
Oct 1940
|
Jan 1941
|
Lt/Cdr. W. van Lier
|
Jul 1942
|
1945
|
Lt/Cdr. W. van Prooijen
|
[2]
References
[
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]
Citations
[
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]
- ^
Evans, John (2005).
Final Flights: Aviation Accidents in West Wales from the Great War to the 1990s
(1 ed.). Pembroke Dock: Paterchurch Publications. pp. 16?18.
ISBN
1-870745-14-0
.
- ^
a
b
Rawlings 1982, p. 201.
- ^
Halley 1988, p. 368.
- ^
Jefford 2001, p. 88.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Halley, James J.
The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth 1918?1988
. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988.
ISBN
0-85130-164-9
.
- Jefford, C.G.
RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912
. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001.
ISBN
1-84037-141-2
.
- Rawlings, John D.R.
Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft
. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982.
ISBN
0-7106-0187-5
.
External links
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]
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