No. 22 Squadron

No. 22 Squadron entered the war as a torpedo-bomber unit within RAF Coastal Command, initially flying the obsolete Vickers Vildebeest biplane before re-equipping with the Bristol Beaufort from late 1939. Operating chiefly from North Coates under No. 16 Group, the squadron flew minelaying sorties over the North Sea and Channel from April 1940, then pressed into anti-shipping strikes with torpedoes from September 1941. Its most celebrated action came on 6 April 1941, when Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell pressed a low-level torpedo attack through heavy defences to strike the battlecruiser Gneisenau in Brest harbour, an act for which he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. Redeployed to Ceylon in April 1942, the squadron shifted to convoy escort and anti-submarine patrols across the Indian Ocean before moving to the Burma front in December 1944, latterly flying Bristol Beaufighters on rocket-armed anti-shipping and ground-attack missions. The squadron was disbanded on 30 September 1945.