Traces of World War 2 
RAF - No. 14 Squadron
10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940

      home - latest update 3 April 2008


14 SQUADRON - Bomber, Vickers Wellesley
254 Wing (14, 47, detachment 112, and 233 Squadrons)

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



No 111 Squadron was re-numbered No 14 on 1 February 1920 at Ramlah in Palestine. It would remain in Palestine for the next 20 years operating in detachments at Amman and Ramlah equipped successively with Bristol Fighters, DH9As, Fairey IIIFs, Gordons and in March 1938, Wellesleys. The entry of Italy into the war saw the squadron move to Egypt, back to Palestine and then to the Sudan, where it carried out raids against Italian bases in Eritrea.

The squadron re-equipped with Blenheims in September 1940 and also a flight of Gladiators later in 1940, which it took to Egypt before returning to Palestine. It later took part in operations in Iraq and then returned to the Western Desert and re-equipment with Marauders in August 1942. With Marauders the squadron carried out coastal patrols, mine-laying and maritime reconnaissance operations as well as bombing missions, moving to Algeria from March 1943.

Stations

19 December 1939-19 May 1940: Amman (Trans-Jordan)
19 May 1940-12 April 1941: Port Sudan (Sudan)


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

14/06/1940: Massawa, 1 Plane lost
, 1 MIA
30/06/1940: Acico Bay, Eritrea

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14/06/1940: Massawa

Type: Vickers Wellesley
Serial Number: K7743, ?-?
Operation: Massawa
Lost: 14/06/1940
Pilot Officer Reginald P.B.H. Plunkett, RAF 40849, 14 Sqdn., age unknown, 14/06/1940, missing
Took off 1530 hrs Port Sudan, with another aircraft to attack the Acico petrol installation. Seen heading out to sea after bombing, and claimed shot down by Ten Visintini of 412 Squadriglia. The pilot, who was flying the aircraft solo. is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial (UK) for missing airmen during operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe, and not on the Alamein Memorial (Egypt) for missing
airmen during operations in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa.

Sources: CWGC and Gunby / Temple, RAF Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean Vol.1. (with thanks to Peter )

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30/06/1940: Acico Bay, Eritrea

Early in the morning on 30 June 1940 four Wellesleys from 14 Squadron attacked a fuel dump at Acico Bay. One aircraft turned back early, but the others met heavy AA, though no fighters. The leading Wellesley was hit, but all aircraft returned. Damage to the target was insignificant. The Italian Fiat CR.42 Falco fighters of the 412a Squadriglia claimed two of the bombers shot down, one of them by Sergente Maggiore Luigi Baron, who claimed a Wellesley over Massaua. AA claimed a third Wellesley.

The RAF reported 1 damaged aircraft but no losses.


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Sources

14 Squadron Association
Air of Authority - 14 Squadron
Bail-outs for 1940
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Italian biplane fighter aces - Luigi Baron
No. 14 Squadron RAF: Second World War
Royal Air Force - 14 Squadron
The invasion of British Somaliland by Bill Stone
Middle East - the opening rounds (from the RAF 1939-1945)
New Zealanders in the Royal Air Force (Vol III) - Africa
RAF Museum: British Military Aviation in 1940
Royal Air Force History Section
The Royal Air Force, 1939-1945
The Second World War - a day by day account


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Books

Gunby/Temple, RAF Bomber losses in the Middle East 1 Mediterranean volume 1: 1939-1942
Stapleton 'Winged promises: a history of 14 Squadron 1915-45' (RAFBF 1996)

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Links

Discussion Groups
Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
RAF Commands Forum

Other
Abbreviations used in the Royal Air Force
Code Names & RAF Vocabulary

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
Biplane Fighter Aces from the Second World War
The Bristol & District Blitz War Memorial - A register of those who lost their lives due to enemy action in Bristol and surrounding districts, 1940-1944
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
'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
Order of Liberation (in French/English/Spanish)
Pilotfriend.com: aircraft of WW2
Polish Air Force 1940-1947 Operations Record Books
RAF Battle of Britain
RAF Upwood
RAF WWII 38 Group Squadrons Reunited
De Slag om de Grebbeberg (Dutch)
Test Flying Memorial
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 14 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