No. 140 Squadron

No. 140 Squadron was formed on 17 September 1941 at RAF Benson when No. 1416 Flight was raised to squadron status under Army Co-operation Command, becoming a dedicated photographic reconnaissance unit from the outset. Its initial equipment of Spitfires and Blenheims divided tasks by time of day: Spitfires flew high- and low-level daylight sorties over northern France, while the more vulnerable Blenheims undertook night sorties using flares. From early 1943 Lockheed Venturas were taken on charge, and later that year the arrival of de Havilland Mosquitoes — initially the Mark IX and then the radar-equipped Mark XVI — gave the squadron the range and speed to penetrate deeper into occupied Europe by day and night. In July 1943 the unit was assigned to No. 34 Wing of the 2nd Tactical Air Force, aligning its work firmly with the planning for the eventual Allied return to the Continent. Following the Normandy landings the squadron moved forward through France into Belgium in September 1944, thereafter conducting shipping and coastal reconnaissance along the Dutch and German North Sea coasts into the final weeks of the war in Europe. It returned to England and was disbanded at RAF Fersfield on 10 November 1945.