No. 127 Squadron

No. 127 Squadron RAF was formed on 29 June 1941 around a small detachment of Hurricanes and Gladiators at Haditha in Iraq, initially supporting the Allied campaign against Vichy-held Syria before being renumbered No. 261 Squadron just a fortnight later. A fresh No. 127 Squadron was constituted on 2 August 1941 at Kasfareet in Egypt, spending its early months as a ground-servicing echelon before receiving its own Hurricanes in the spring of 1942 and entering fighter operations over the Western Desert. Through 1942 and into 1943 the squadron flew air-defence sorties over Egypt and offensive patrols across the desert, suffering losses of aircraft and aircrew to both enemy action and the demanding conditions of the theatre. In April 1944 the squadron transferred to Britain, arriving at North Weald and re-equipping with Spitfire IXs under No. 11 Group in preparation for the Normandy invasion. From May 1944 it flew fighter-bomber and armed-reconnaissance missions over France as part of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force, then crossed to the Continent in August 1944 and advanced through Belgium and the Netherlands, re-equipping with the Spitfire XVI along the way. The squadron was disbanded at Twente in the Netherlands on 30 April 1945, having served for the entirety of its existence on wartime operations spanning the Middle East and North-West Europe. Its motto, Eothen — meaning “Out of the east” — reflects those origins in the desert war that opened its operational career.