No. 145 Squadron

Diu noctuque pugnamus

Group
Fighter Command

About

No. 145 Squadron reformed on 10 October 1939 and flew the Hawker Hurricane in the fighting over Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain — including the defence of Channel convoy ‘Peewit’ on 8 August 1940 — before converting to the Supermarine Spitfire in early 1941 and flying offensive sweeps across the Channel. In the spring of 1942 it was sent to Egypt, where it became one of the first Spitfire squadrons to operate in the Western Desert, and it followed the Mediterranean campaign through Malta and Sicily to mainland Italy from September 1943.

The squadron had a strongly international character: in early 1943 its ‘C’ Flight operated as the Polish Fighting Team, a group of veteran Polish pilots who ran up some twenty-five confirmed victories in a few months. Geoffrey Wellum joined the squadron in August 1942, flying a Spitfire off the carrier HMS Furious to reinforce besieged Malta during Operation Pedestal. No. 145 disbanded in northern Italy on 19 August 1945; its motto was Diu noctuque pugnamus, “we fight by day and night”.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including History of War — No. 145 Squadron (RAF) in the Second World War and Wikipedia: No. 145 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

Royal Air Force- Italy, the Balkans and South-east Europe, 1942-1945. Ground crews at work on Supermarine Spitfire Mark IXs of No. 145 Squadron RAF, at Pachino, Sicily.
ⓘ licence & creditBridge B (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force-_Italy,_the_Balkans_and_South-east_Europe,_1942-1945._CNA1013.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force- Italy, the Balkans and South East Europe, 1942-1945. Supermarine Spitfire LF Mark VIII, JF503 'ZX-F', of No. 145 Squadron RAF is serviced on a dispersal covered with pierced steel planking (PSP) at Canne, Italy.
ⓘ licence & creditBridge B (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force-_Italy,_the_Balkans_and_South_East_Europe,_1942-1945._CNA2407.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943. Squadron Leader L C Wade, Commmanding Officer of No. 145 Squadron RAF, inspects the damaged starboard wing of his Supermarine Spitfire Mark IX after flying back to his base at Goubrine North,Tunisia, following combat with enemy fighters while providing top cover for fighter bombers attacking shipping in the Gulf of Tunis
ⓘ licence & creditLea T (Plt Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Operations_in_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa,_1939-1943._CNA809.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943. Supermarine Spitfire Mark IXCs of the Polish Fighting Team (Skalski's Circus) attached to No. 145 Squadron RAF, run up their engines at Goubrine Airfield in Tunisia. In the foreground is EN315 'ZX-6', flown by the unit's Commanding Officer, Squadron Leader Stanisław Skalski, with EN261 beyond.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Operations_in_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa,_1939-1943._CNA4542.jpgView source & full licence →
Stone cross in Chichester Cemetery, West Sussex on the grave of Kapral-Podchorazy (Corporal-Cadet) Wilhelm Sasak, flanked by the CWGC headstones of Jan Przybyłowski and Bolesław Własnowolski. Sasak served in No. 145 Squadron, RAF, and died on 30 November 1940, aged 24.
ⓘ licence & creditMotacilla / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polish_headstones_Chichester_CWGC.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PFT_Spitfire_MK9_ZX6.jpegView source & full licence →
Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone of Pilot Officer 67103, William Mulhern, (formerly Cadet 1257727), 145 Squadron Royal Air Force, who died 19 October 1941 while flying his Spitfire over East Appleton, Yorkshire. His body is buried in Catterick cemetery, North Yorkshire.
ⓘ licence & creditBerkeley / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MULHERN,_William.JPGView source & full licence →
Gravestone of Pilot Officer, Pilot J/15006, Henry Lloyd Maurice Young, Royal Canadian Air Force attached to 145 Squadron RAF, who died 28 October 1941 aged 23. He was the son of Henry and Edith Alberta Young and husband of Gwendolyn Edna Young, of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. His body is buried in Catterick Cemetery, Yorkshire.
ⓘ licence & creditBerkeley / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Lloyd_Maurice_YOUNG.JPGView source & full licence →
CWGC headstone in Chichester Cemetery, West Sussex of Sgt Winslow Gilbert, RCAF. He served in 145 Squadron RAF, and died on 21 July 1941, aged 20.
ⓘ licence & creditMotacilla / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gilbert_WD_Chichester_CWGC.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : Spitfire Mark VB(T), AB324, of No. 145 Squadron RAF, on a landing ground in the Western Desert. Following RAF service with Nos. 145, 92, 335 and 94 Squadrons, and with the Desert Air Force Communication Unit, AB324 was handed over to the Czech Air Force in 1946.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:145_Squadron_RAF_Spitfire_Western_Desert_IWM_ME(RAF)_4397.jpgView source & full licence →

Known personnel (1)

NameRankStationDates
Wellum, Geoffrey Harry Augustus — — ? – ?