Traces of World War 2 
RAF - No. 245 (Northern Rhodesian) Squadron
10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940

      home - latest update 5 February 2008


245 SQUADRON - Fighter, Hawker Hurricane Mk I

History | Operations and losses | Sources | Links | Books | Questions and/or remarks



The squadron reformed at Leconfield on 30 October 1939 equipped with Blenheim fighters and from January 1940, Fairey Battles. Both of these types were replaced by Hurricanes in March 1940 an in May it moved to Drem in Scotland. However, during the Dunkirk evacuation it operated a detachment from Hawkinge but in July it was transferred to Aldergrove in Northern Ireland, where it remained throughout the Battle of Britain on defensive duties.


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Operations and losses 10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940
Not all operations listed; those with fatal losses are.

01/06/1940: Patrol, Dunkirk, F. 2 Planes lost, 2 MIA
20/06/1940: Rouen airfield, F

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01/06/1940: Patrol, Dunkirk

Type:
Hawker Hurricane Mk I
Serial number: ?, DX-?
Operation: Patrol, Dunkirk
Lost: 01/06/1940
Pilot Officer Alan L. Treanor, RAF 41965, 245 Sqdn., age 19, 01/06/1940, missing

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Type: Hawker Hurricane Mk I
Serial number: ?, DX-?
Operation: Patrol, Dunkirk
Lost: 01/06/1940
Pilot Officer Robert A. West, RAF 41972, 245 Sqdn., age unknown, 01/06/1940, missing

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20/06/1940: Rouen airfield

One particularly successful low-level attack on an enemy-held aerodrome near Rouen was made on 20 June by the Hurricanes from No. 245 Squadron, commanded by Squadron Leader Whitley. Flying with him were Flight Lieutenant Mowat and Pilot Officer Spence. The attack was made by two sections, led by Whitley and Mowat respectively, a third being left above for protection. There were some fifty German aircraft on the ground and a considerable number of these were reported damaged and four left on fire.

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Sources

Air of Authority - 245 Squadron
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database
Australian War Memorial
Bail-outs for 1940
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Prisoners of War captured in Europe 1940
Royal Air Force - 245 Squadron
RAF Battle of Britain - 245 Squadron
RAF - Campaign Diary - The Battle of France (May-June 1940)
RAF Museum: British Military Aviation in 1940
RAF Order of Battle, France, 10th May 1940
Royal Air Force History Section
The Royal Air Force, 1939-1945
The Second World War - a day by day account

The War in France and Flanders, 1939-1940, by Major L.F. Ellis, 1954

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Books

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Links

Abbreviations used in the Royal Air Force
Air Aces
Airwar over Denmark
Allied World War II Casualties in the Netherlands
Armée de l'Air - Order of Battle, 10th May 1940
Australian Wargraves
Axis History Factbook
Battle-of-Britain.com
De Belgen in Engeland 1940-1945 (in Dutch)
Belgian Aviation History Association Archaeological Team
British Aircraft Directory
British Aviation Archaeological Council - Books and research links
Canada's Air Force History
HMS Cavalier
Ciel de Gloire (in French) RAF Squadrons
CWGC Cemeteries Germany
CWGC Cemeteries Netherlands
Czechoslovak airmen in the RAF 1940-1945
Danish WW2 Pilots

Dutch Pilots in RAF Squadrons
Eagles Squadrons (American pilots in the RAF)
Fondation de la France libre (in French)
Håkans aviation page (from Sweden, in English)
'High flight', poem by John Gillespie Magee
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, poem by W.B. Yeats
Jagdgeschwader 27 (in German)
Luchtoorlog ('Arial War', in Dutch, with many photos)
Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth
The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945
Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
The National Ex-Prisoners of War Association
Naval History.net
Nordic Aviation during WW2
Pilotfriend.com: aircraft of WW2
Polish Air Force 1940-1947 Operations Record Books
RAF Battle of Britain
RAF Upwood
De Slag om de Grebbeberg
(Dutch)
Warbird Alley
War over Holland
World War II Aircraft wrecksites in Norway
www.bomber-command.de

Bills-Bunker.de
The Lancastershire Aircraft Investigation Team
Luftfahrt-Archäologie in Schleswig Holstein (in German)
North East Diary 1939-1945
Wartime Leicester and Leicestershire

The Aerodrome - Aces and Aircraft of World War 1
WW1 Cemeteries

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This page is dedicated to the men of 245 Squadron.

© Bart FM Droog / Rottend Staal Online 2008. Permission granted for use of the data gathered here for non commercial purposes, if this source is mentioned with a link to http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/index.html