No. 125 Squadron — Newfoundland

No. 125 (Newfoundland) Squadron was a Royal Air Force night-fighter unit whose reformation in June 1941 was made possible by a $500,000 war loan raised by the Newfoundland Commission of Government, a gesture that earned the squadron its distinctive regional honorific and a badge bearing a caribou. Standing up at RAF Colerne, the squadron flew Boulton Paul Defiants before converting to the Bristol Beaufighter in early 1942 and then to the de Havilland Mosquito in February 1944, each successive type offering greater speed and range for nocturnal interception work. Operating primarily in the defence of south-west England and Wales, the squadron accumulated 44 confirmed aerial victories, five probables and twenty damaged by the end of the war. In the summer of 1944 it moved south to cover the Normandy landings before switching to night interceptions of V-1 flying bombs from RAF Middle Wallop. The squadron’s motto, “Nunquam domandi” — never to be tamed — reflected the aggressive spirit its aircrew brought to the unglamorous but vital work of home-defence night fighting. It was disbanded on 20 November 1945 when its aircraft and personnel were absorbed into No. 264 Squadron.