No. 18 Squadron — Burma

No. 18 (Burma) Squadron entered the Second World War as a Bristol Blenheim light-bomber unit within No. 2 Group, deploying to France as part of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force in September 1939. Only three aircraft survived the May 1940 evacuation. Rebuilt in Norfolk, the squadron flew anti-shipping sweeps, escorted Circus raids into occupied France, and in August 1941 made the celebrated drop of a replacement artificial leg to Wing Commander Douglas Bader over Saint-Omer. Detached to Malta in October 1941, it struck Axis targets in Sicily before near-destruction reduced it to five serviceable aircraft by January 1942. Re-formed in North Africa from late 1942, the squadron — still on Blenheim Vs — suffered devastating losses on 4 December 1942 when Wing Commander Hugh Malcolm led nine aircraft against a Tunisian airfield without fighter cover; none returned. Malcolm was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the first RAF recipient of that campaign. The squadron later re-equipped with the Douglas Boston and supported the Allied advance through Sicily and Italy until disbandment in Greece in 1946.