No. 179 Squadron

No. 179 Squadron was formed on 1 September 1942 at RAF Skitten in Caithness, nucleated around a detached flight from No. 172 Squadron and equipped from the outset with Leigh Light Wellingtons for nocturnal anti-submarine work. Within weeks of forming, the squadron deployed to Gibraltar to protect convoys supporting Operation Torch and the subsequent North African campaign, operating under RAF Coastal Command and later Mediterranean Air Command. During the Gibraltar and North African phase the squadron proved formidable against the U-boat arm, accounting for seven submarines between May and November 1943 alone. Returning to Britain in April 1944, the squadron came under No. 19 Group, Coastal Command, and flew anti-submarine patrols over the Bay of Biscay and the Western Approaches for the remainder of the war, converting to the Vickers Warwick in November 1944. Its final wartime kill, U-927, was sunk on 24 February 1945, bringing the squadron’s total to eleven U-boats destroyed during the war. After the war the unit briefly re-equipped with Lancaster ASR aircraft before being disbanded on 30 September 1946, having split one flight off as the reformed No. 210 Squadron.