Flying squadron of the Royal Air Force
Military unit
No. 202 Squadron
of the
Royal Air Force
is the maritime and mountains training element of the
No.1 Flying Training School
, operating the
Airbus Helicopters H145 Jupiter
.
[10]
It previously operated the
Sea King HAR3
in the
search and rescue
role at three stations in the northern half of the
United Kingdom
. It was originally formed as one of the first aeroplane squadrons of the
Royal Naval Air Service
(RNAS) before it became part of the RAF.
History
[
edit
]
Formation and the First World War
[
edit
]
No. 202 Squadron was formed along with the entire RAF on 1 April 1918 by renumbering
No. 2 Squadron
of the
Royal Naval Air Service
(RNAS).
[11]
It was originally formed as one of the first aeroplane squadrons of the RNAS on 17 October 1914.
[2]
[12]
It served on the
Western Front
during the
First World War
, carrying out
reconnaissance
and bombing missions from bases in
Belgium
and
France
before being disbanded on 22 January 1920.
[3]
[12]
The interbellum
[
edit
]
The squadron was reformed for a brief period between 9 April 1920 and 16 May 1921 as a fleet co-operation unit.
[2]
In 1929, it was reformed when No. 481 Flight, operating the
Fairey III
floatplane
in
Malta
was re-numbered as No. 202 Squadron, continuing to fly patrols over the
Mediterranean Sea
throughout the 1930s, being re-equipped with
Supermarine Scapa
flying boats
in 1935.
[3]
[13]
Second World War
[
edit
]
During the
Second World War
, the squadron flew
anti-submarine
patrols from
RAF Gibraltar
with
Saro London
,
Consolidated Catalina
and
Short Sunderland
flying boats and
Fairey Swordfish
torpedo bombers until 1944, when it moved with its Catalinas to
RAF Castle Archdale
,
Northern Ireland
, disbanding there on 12 June 1945.
[3]
[13]
Post-war
[
edit
]
Weather Reconnaissance
[
edit
]
No. 202 Squadron was reformed by the re-numbering of
No. 518 Squadron
[1]
as a
weather reconnaissance
squadron at
RAF Aldergrove
near
Belfast
on 1 October 1946, flying converted
Handley Page Halifax GR.6 & A.9
bombers on long-range meteorological flights over the North Atlantic (codenamed "Bismuth"). It re-equipped with the more modern
Handley Page Hastings Met.1
from November 1950, continuing in this role until disbanding on 31 July 1964.
[3]
[14]
Search and Rescue
[
edit
]
Reformed on 1 September 1964
[3]
by the renumbering of
No. 228 Squadron
at
RAF Leconfield
in Yorkshire, the squadron began operating in a new helicopter
search and rescue
role using the
Westland Whirlwind HAR.10
, with flights based at
RAF Acklington
and
RAF Ouston
in Northumberland,
RAF Coltishall
in Norfolk and
RAF Leuchars
in Fife. The squadron moved to
RAF Finningley
during September 1976 with flights at
RAF Boulmer
in Northumberland, RAF Leconfield, RAF Coltishall,
RAF Lossiemouth
in Moray and
RAF Brawdy
in Pembrokeshire. The squadron re-equipped with
Westland Sea King
HAR3 from July 1978, but operated the
Westland Wessex HAR2
as an interim measure whilst its Sea Kings were involved in the
Falklands War
of 1982.
[15]
On the closure of Finningley in 1989 the squadron moved its headquarters to Boulmer and later in April 2008 to
RAF Valley
in Anglesley.
[11]
The primary role of RAF search and rescue was the recovery of downed military aviators, however in peacetime, its aircraft were available for use in civilian distress incidents. Over 95% of the rescues carried out by the squadron were civilian incidents. Rescues included a wide variety of incidents involving casualties from aircraft, fishing trawlers, ferries, oil rigs, mountainous terrain, cliffs and the waters surrounding the UK.
[16]
In 2006, the government announced its intentions to privatise the search and rescue helicopter service in the UK. A ten-year contract worth £1.6 billion was signed in March 2013 with
Bristow Helicopters
who would run the service from 2015 with new
AgustaWestland AW189
and
Sikorsky S-92
helicopters. SAR helicopter operations ceased in staged handovers from March through September 2015.
[17]
'A' Flight at Boulmer ceased flying in October 2015,
[18]
'B' Flight at
RAF Leconfield
in March 2015
[19]
and 'D' Flight at Lossiemouth in April 2015.
[21]
Reformation
[
edit
]
In May 2016, the
Search and Rescue Training Unit
(SARTU) was renumbered 202 Squadron
[22]
as the maritime and mountains training element of the
Defence Helicopter Flying School
based at RAF Valley and operating the
Bell Griffin HT1
helicopter.
[10]
After a brief pause in operations in January 2018, No. 202 Squadron was again reformed in March 2018 as the 'maritime and mountains' training Squadron of the DHFS (a UK MFTS venture) and re-equipped with the
Airbus Jupiter HT1
.
[23]
Aircraft operated
[
edit
]
Battle honours
[
edit
]
No. 202 Squadron has received the following
battle honours
. Those marked with an asterisk (*) may be emblazoned on the
squadron standard
.
[24]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Jefford 2001, p. 70.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Rawlings 1982, pp. 130?131.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Halley 1988, p. 261.
- ^
Bowyer and Rawlings 1979, p. 13.
- ^
Bowyer and Rawlings 1979, p. 99.
- ^
Bowyer and Rawlings 1979, p. 18.
- ^
Bowyer and Rawlings 1979, p. 97.
- ^
Bowyer and Rawlings 1979, pp. 118?119.
- ^
Bowyer and Rawlings 1979, p. 126.
- ^
a
b
"RAF Valley based Search & Rescue Training Unit becomes 202 (Reserve) Sqn"
. Royal Air Force. 6 May 2016. Archived from
the original
on 24 May 2016
. Retrieved
6 May
2016
.
- ^
a
b
"202 Squadron"
.
Royal Air Force
. 2015. Archived from
the original
on 27 January 2016
. Retrieved
9 October
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Lewis 1959, p. 69.
- ^
a
b
"202 Squadron History"
.
202squadron.com
. Archived from
the original
on 7 July 2011
. Retrieved
16 July
2008
.
- ^
Jackson 1989, pp.48?49.
- ^
Barrass, M. B. (2015).
"No. 201?205 Squadron Histories"
.
Air of Authority ? A History of RAF Organisation
. Retrieved
9 October
2015
.
- ^
Search & Rescue Organisations
Archived
15 July 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Farewell to RAF UK Search and Rescue"
. Archived from
the original
on 8 December 2015
. Retrieved
20 October
2015
.
- ^
"Sea Kings Depart RAF Boulmer"
.
Royal Air Force
. 1 October 2015. Archived from
the original
on 4 March 2016
. Retrieved
9 October
2015
.
- ^
"The Times they are achanging"
. Walkington Life. 31 March 2015
. Retrieved
30 June
2019
.
- ^
- ^
"UK SAR Training Unit renamed"
. 10 May 2016
. Retrieved
10 July
2022
.
- ^
"202 Sqn Jupiter HT1 positioning for RAF100 flypast"
(PDF)
. 202 Squadron Association. 11 July 2018
. Retrieved
30 June
2019
.
- ^
"202 Squadron"
.
Royal Air Force
.
Archived
from the original on 6 October 2016
. Retrieved
8 January
2022
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Bowyer, Michael J.F. and John D.R. Rawlings.
Squadron Codes, 1937?56
. Cambridge, UK: Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1979.
ISBN
0-85059-364-6
.
- Cotter, Jarrod (2008).
Royal Air Force celebrating 90 years
. Stamford, UK: Key Publishing Ltd.
ISBN
978-0-946219-11-7
.
- Halley, James J.
Famous Maritime Squadrons of the RAF, Volume 1
. Windsor, Berkshire, UK: Hylton Lacy Publishers Ltd., 1973.
ISBN
0-85064-101-2
.
- 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
.
- Jackson, Paul. "The Hastings...Last of a Transport Line".
Air Enthusiast
. Issue Forty, September?December 1989. Bromley, Kent: Tri-Service Press. pp. 1?7, 47?52.
- Jefford, C.G.
RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912
. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing, 2001.
ISBN
1-84037-141-2
.
- Lewis, Peter.
Squadron Histories: R.F.C, R.N.A.S and R.A.F. 1912?59
. London: Putnam, 1959.
- 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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