No. 65 Squadron

Vi et armis

Group
Fighter Command

About

No. 65 Squadron re-equipped from the Gloster Gladiator biplane to the Supermarine Spitfire in 1939 and fought the early war as a single-seat fighter unit of Fighter Command, operating from stations including Hornchurch, Northolt, Kirton-in-Lindsey and Tangmere. It took part in the Battle of Britain and went on to fly offensive sweeps over France from 1941, working through successive marks of Spitfire. Among its wartime pilots were the Irish ace Brendan ‘Paddy’ Finucane and, in 1942, Geoffrey Wellum, the young Battle of Britain veteran who later wrote the memoir First Light.

In December 1943 the squadron exchanged its Spitfires for the North American Mustang, and for the rest of the war specialised in long-range escort for the heavy bombers and in strikes against enemy transport and shipping deep over the Continent. Its motto, Vi et armis, means “by force and arms”.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including History of War — No. 65 Squadron (RAF) in the Second World War and Wikipedia: No. 65 Squadron RAF. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

An armed (RAF) Panavia Tornado F3 of .
ⓘ licence & creditUSAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tornado_F3_RAF_armed.jpgView source & full licence →
The British Army in Tunisia 1943 The pilot of a Taylorcraft Auster AOP (Air Observation Post) aircraft of No. 65 Squadron receives his orders, 28 April 1943.
ⓘ licence & creditLambert (Sgt), No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_British_Army_in_Tunisia_1943_NA2385.jpgView source & full licence →
A Spitfire Mark IIA of No. 65 Squadron RAF parked on the ground at Tangmere, Sussex, 1940
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spitfire_at_RAF_Tangmere.jpgView source & full licence →
Heraldic badge of No. 65 Squadron RAF displayed on the Battle of Britain Monument in London
ⓘ licence & creditFergo22 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heraldic_badge_of_No._65_Squadron_RAF.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force- 2nd Tactical Air Force, 1943-1945. Flight mechanics carry empty long-range fuel tanks to waiting North American Mustang Mark IIIs of No. 65 Squadron RAF at B60/Grimbergen, Belgium.
ⓘ licence & creditBellamy (Flt Lt) & Goodchild A (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force-_2nd_Tactical_Air_Force,_1943-1945._CL1086.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force- 2nd Tactical Air Force, 1943-1945. Pilots line up for a haircut while waiting on standby near the No. 122 Wing Operations Room at B7/Martragny, Normandy. In the chair is Flying Officer J M W Lloyd of No. 65 Squadron RAF: the barber is Leading Aircraftman William Heasman from Brighton.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Saidman (P/O) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force-_2nd_Tactical_Air_Force,_1943-1945._CL550.jpgView source & full licence →
Imperial War Museum, Duxford
ⓘ licence & creditDavid Merrett from Daventry, England / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hawker_Hunter_(5781745148).jpgView source & full licence →
Still from camera gun footage shot from a North American Mustang Mark III flown by Flying Officer J. Butler of No. 65 Squadron RAF, as he shot down a Focke-Wulf Fw 190D of II/JG 26 which was attempting to attack an Avro Lancaster (banking, left), during a daylight raid by the RAF Bomber Command on the Gremberg railway yards at Cologne, Germany.
ⓘ licence & creditNo. 65 Squadron RAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fw_190D_shot_down_while_attacking_Lancaster_1944.jpgView source & full licence →
Hawker Hunter F.Mk6 ,IWM Duxford,England
ⓘ licence & creditYiannis 2007 / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duxford_Hunter_F.Mk6.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force, 1939-1945- Supermarine Spitfire. Spitfire Mark IIA, P7665 ‘YT-L’, of No. 65 Squadron RAF, on the ground at Tangmere, Sussex. It was shot down by Messerschmitt Bf 109s on 5 February 1941.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force,_1939-1945-_Supermarine_Spitfire._CH2546.jpgView source & full licence →
Members of No. 64 Squadron, Royal Air Force, with nine Gloster Javelin FAW.7 in the background (left row) at RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire (UK), in 1959. To the right are nine Hawker Hunters of 65 squadron. The photo was taken, because two captains of the United States Marine Corps, B.M. Adrian and Dirk Bierhaalder, served as radar operators with 64 Squadron.
ⓘ licence & creditU.S. Navy / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:64SqnRAF_Duxford_NAN3_60.jpgView source & full licence →

Known personnel (1)

NameRankStationDates
Wellum, Geoffrey Harry Augustus — — ? – ?