No. 160 Squadron

No. 160 Squadron was formed on 16 January 1942 at RAF Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, equipped with Consolidated Liberator heavy aircraft and intended for long-range reconnaissance duties. After a complex deployment that saw the ground and air echelons separated, the squadron established itself in Ceylon from early 1943, flying maritime reconnaissance sorties over the Bay of Bengal and long-range photographic missions as far as Sumatra. Operating under No. 222 Group, Air Command South East Asia, the squadron’s Liberators also undertook extensive minelaying operations — dropping close to a thousand mines in the first four months of 1945 alone — alongside anti-shipping strikes and supply drops to Allied forces operating behind Japanese lines. From June 1945 the unit shifted to Special Duties work, delivering agents and materiel to resistance groups in Malaya and Sumatra. The squadron’s Sinhalese motto, “Api soya paragasmu” (We seek and strike), and its badge of a Sinhalese lion rampant reflect the Ceylon-centred years that defined its wartime identity. After a brief post-war transport role and a final posting to RAF Leuchars with Avro Lancasters, the squadron was disbanded on 30 September 1946, its number being absorbed into No. 120 Squadron.