201 SQUADRON - Bomber - Short Sunderland
Coastal Command
History | Operations and losses | Sources | Links | Books | Questions and/or remarks
A year before war broke out, the squadron moved to Invergordon for a month and then the month before war was declared it moved to Sullom Voe. From November 1939 to May 1940 it was back at Invergordon, where it converted to the Sunderland before returning to Sullom Voe. From these bases it carried out anti-submarine and anti-shipping patrols of the North Sea and along the Norwegian coast.
From October 1941 until August 1945 the squadron was based at Castle Archdale on Lough Erne in Northern Ireland except for April to November 1944, when it was based at Pembroke Dock to assist in covering the English Channel during the build up to and after the Normandy landings. During this period it was gradually upgraded in equipment from the Sunderland I to the Sunderland III and in February 1945 it began to receive the Sunderland V, which it then operated until February 1957. In August 1945, it moved to its new peacetime base of Pembroke Dock but in March 1946 this was changed to Calshot. From here it was involved in the Berlin Airlift flying supplies onto Lake Havel in the city. After the Airlift it returned to Pembroke Dock and remained there until disbanding on 28 February 1957.
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Operations and losses 10/05/1940 - 31/05/1940
Not all operations listed; those with losses are.
No losses in this period; for operations in May 1940 see the Coastal War Diary 201 Squadron, May 1940.
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Sources
Air Authority- 201 Squadron
BBC WW2 People's war: Experiences from Flying Squadron 201
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
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
War over Holland
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Books
J Nash 'On the step: 201 Squadron RAF' (1990)
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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
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 201 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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