Traces of World War 2 
RAF - No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron
10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940

      home - latest update 8 February 2008


320 SQUADRON - Bomber, Fokker T-VIIIW (in Dutch)
Coastal Command

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



When the Germans invaded the Netherlands several seaplanes of the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service were evacuated to Britain when their home bases became unavailable. The most useful of these were the modern seven (or ten) Fokker T-VIIIW twin-engined patrol seaplanes, which were flown to Pembroke Dock and on 1 June 1940 formed into No.320 Squadron. This Squadron and 321 (Netherlands) Squadron were the first non-British RAF Squadrons.

For several months the squadron flew patrols until shortage of spares forced the withdrawal of the Fokkers, and their replacement by Ansons, supplemented in October by Hudsons. The Fokkers flew 143 operational sorties; two were lost.

On 18 January 1941, No.321 Squadron was absorbed and in March 1941, No.320 moved to Scotland for patrols and attacks on enemy shipping in the North Sea. Ansons were retained until October 1941 for training purposes and in April 1942 the squadron moved to East Anglia.

In March 1943 it was transferred to No.2 Group and re-equipped with Mitchells. It began daylight raids on 17 August, attacking enemy communications targets and airfields as part of Second TAF. In October 1944 it moved to Belgium and continued raids until the end of the war, moving to Germany for the last week. On 2 August 1945, No.320 squadron was transferred to the control of the Royal Netherlands Navy and ceased to be an RAF unit.

Squadron Code: TD


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

no losses registered by CWGC for this period

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Type:

Serial number: ?, -?
Operation: ?
Lost:




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Sources

320 Squadron (in Dutch)
322 Squadron
Air of Authority - 320 (Netherlands) Squadron
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database
Australian War Memorial
Bail-outs for 1940
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Fokker T.VIIIW with 320 Squadron Dutch Navy
Netherlands Naval Aviation
Prisoners of War captured in Europe 1940
Royal Air Force - 320 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

Peter D. Cornwell, The Battle of France, Then and Now, 2008
N. Geldhof, De operaties van 320 Squadron. Royal Dutch Naval Air Service 1940 - 1946, Geromy, Maarssen, 2006 (in Dutch)

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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)
Foreign Aircraft Landings in Ireland 1939-1946
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

Aircraft crashes on the North Yorkshire Moors, England
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 320 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