No. 36 Squadron

No. 36 Squadron began the Second World War as a torpedo bomber unit stationed in Singapore, flying the obsolete Vickers Vildebeest against Japanese forces during the Malayan campaign of late 1941 and early 1942. The squadron suffered devastating losses in those operations, including attacks during the Japanese landing at Endau in January 1942, and the remnant was disbanded in Java on 8 March 1942 as Allied resistance in the region collapsed. The squadron reformed at Tanjore in India on 22 October 1942, this time equipped with Vickers Wellingtons for anti-submarine patrol duties off the Indian east coast, flying its first convoy escort sorties in January 1943. In June 1943 it transferred to Algeria, where it conducted anti-submarine patrols over the western Mediterranean, participating in co-ordinated attacks with Allied naval destroyers that led to the sinking of U-616 and U-960 in May 1944. The squadron returned to the United Kingdom in September 1944, operating from RAF Chivenor and then RAF Benbecula, continuing Wellington anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic until disbandment on 4 June 1945. Its battle honours reflect this wide-ranging maritime war: Eastern Waters, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic. The squadron’s motto, “Rajawali raja langit,” is in Malay and translates as “Eagle King of the Sky,” a legacy of its long pre-war service in the Far East.