No. 111 Squadron — Treble One

No. 111 Squadron entered the war with a distinction few RAF units could match: it had been the first squadron to receive the Hawker Hurricane, taking delivery in January 1938. Based at RAF Northolt and then Wick for early convoy patrols, it moved south in May 1940 to help cover the Dunkirk evacuation. During the Battle of Britain the squadron flew from RAF Croydon under 11 Group, where it became known for pioneering frontal attacks against Luftwaffe bomber formations — a high-risk tactic that broke up raids but cost heavily. After converting to Spitfires from April 1941 and sweeping over north-west Europe, the squadron deployed to Gibraltar in November 1942 for Operation Torch, then pushed east through Algeria and Tunisia before supporting the landings in Sicily, the invasion of the Italian mainland, and Operation Dragoon off Corsica in 1944. By the war’s end it had claimed 269 enemy aircraft destroyed.