No. 504 Squadron — County of Nottingham

Raised in 1928 as a Special Reserve bomber unit at Hucknall, No. 504 (County of Nottingham) Squadron was redesignated a fighter squadron in October 1938 and received Hurricanes by the spring of 1939. Mobilised to RAF Digby on the outbreak of war, it flew briefly in France during May 1940 before withdrawing to defend Scapa Flow. The squadron joined the Battle of Britain in September 1940, operating from Hendon under 11 Group during the height of the London raids — a period marked by Sergeant Ray Holmes’s celebrated ramming of a Dornier Do 17 threatening Buckingham Palace. Converting to Spitfires from late 1941, it flew offensive sweeps over occupied France, provided escort during Operation Market Garden in 1944, and re-equipped with Gloster Meteor IIIs in March 1945 — the first jets saw no combat before the war ended. The squadron was renumbered No. 245 Squadron in August 1945.