222 SQUADRON - Fighter, Spitfire Mk I
History | Operations and losses | Sources | Links | Books | Questions and/or remarks
On 5 October 1939, No 222 reformed at Duxford as a shipping protection squadron and received Blenheims but in March 1940 it re-equipped with Spitfires as a day fighter unit. In May 1940 it moved to Essex to help cover the Dunkirk evacuation before returning to Lincolnshire and at the end of August again came back to the London area for the last part of the Battle of Britain.
A member of 222 Squadron, douglas Bader took part in the operation over Dunkirk and showed his ability by bringing down a Messerschmitt Bf109 and a Heinkel He111.
Stations
Kirton in Lindsay 4 June 1939
Hornchurch 29 August 1940
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Operations and losses 10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940
Not all operations listed; those with fatal losses are.
29/05/1940: Patrol, Dunkirk, F
30/05/1940: Patrol, Dunkirk, F
31/05/1940: Patrol, Dunkirk, F. 1 Plane lost
01/06/1940: Patrol, Dunkirk, F. 4 Planes lost, 2 KIA, 1 POW
19/06/1940: Intercept, UK
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Fatalities 01/01/1940 - 09/05/1940 (incomplete)
Corporal (Air Gnr.) Frank Chilton, RAF 513704, 222 Sqdn., age 22, 31/01/1940, Pendlebury (St. John) Churchyard, UK
Pilot Officer (Pilot) David G.D. Maynard, RAF 42144, 222 Sqdn., age unknown, 31/01/1940, Whittlesford (SS. Mary and Andrew) Churchyard, UK
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Arthur F. Delamore, RAF 33500 (Australia), 222 Sqdn., age 19, 18/02/1940, Whittlesford (SS. Mary and Andrew) Churchyard, UK
Pilot Officer (Pilot) James O. Griffits, RAF 41692, 222 Sqdn., age 21, 28/03/1940, Whittlesford (SS. Mary and Andrew) Churchyard, UK
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31/05/1940: Patrol, Dunkirk, F
Type: Spitfire Mk I
Serial number: N3295, ZD-?
Operation: Dunkirk
Lost: 31/05/1940
P/O G.G.A. Davies.
Made a forced landing, after being damaged by Flak.
Evacuated by boat.
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01/06/1940: Patrol, Dunkirk, F
Type: Spitfire Mk I
Serial number: ?, ZD-?
Operation: Dunkirk
Lost: 01/06/1940
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Gerald Massey-Sharpe, RAF 41857, 222 Sqdn., age 19, 01/06/1940, Pihen-les-Guines Cemetery, F (near Dunkirk)
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Type: Spitfire Mk I
Serial number: N3232, ZD-?
Operation: Dunkirk
Lost: 01/06/1940
Sergeant (Pilot) Leslie J. White, RAF 522656, 222 Sqdn., age 23, 01/06/1940, Coxyde Military Cemetery, B
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Type: Spitfire Mk I
Serial number: P9377, ZD-?
Operation: Dunkirk
Lost: 01/06/1940
P/O R.A.L. Morant
Made a forced landing, after an attack by a Me109. Evacuated by ship to England.
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Type: Spitfire Mk I
Serial number: P9317, ZD-?
Operation: Dunkirk
Lost: 01/06/1940
P/O H.E.L. Falkust
Shot down, taken Prisoner of War.
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19/06/1940: Intercept, UK
On the night of June 19 1940 Tim Vigors returned from a night out somewhat the worse for wear for drink, and retired to bed at his base at Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire. When a Tannoy message called for a volunteer to intercept German aircraft which had crossed the coast, Vigors took to the air wearing his scarlet pyjamas under a green silk dressing-gown. He shot down another Heinkel.
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Sources
Air of Authority- 222 Squadron
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database
Bail-outs for 1940
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Ciel de Gloire - Squadron 222
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Obituary Iain Hutchinson
Obituary Tim Vigors
RAF Battle of Britain - 222 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
E Burton 'Go straight ahead: Battle of Britain diary of 222 Squadron RAF' (Square One 1996)
Oxspring 'Spitfire Command' (Reprinted 2006)
Vigors 'Lifes too short to cry: memoir of a Battle of Britain ace' (2007)
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Links
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)
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
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 222 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
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