No. 206 Squadron

No. 206 Squadron was reformed at RAF Manston in June 1936 and transferred to Coastal Command the following August, taking its place within No. 16 (General Reconnaissance) Group as one of the command’s long-range maritime patrol units. At the outbreak of war the squadron was flying Avro Ansons on convoy escort and anti-submarine patrols from Bircham Newton, before converting to the Lockheed Hudson in early 1940 and later the Boeing Fortress II, which gave it the range to operate deep over the Atlantic. From late 1943 the squadron deployed to Lagens in the Azores, exploiting the newly-negotiated basing rights there to close the mid-Atlantic gap where U-boats had previously operated beyond Allied air cover. Re-equipped with Consolidated Liberators from 1944, the squadron flew from Leuchars until the end of the war, by which time its crews had destroyed approximately nine U-boats and earned 37 Distinguished Flying Crosses and 13 Distinguished Flying Medals at a cost of 274 personnel killed. Its badge — an octopus, approved by King George VI in 1938 — reflected the breadth of its maritime commitments, and its motto “Nihil nos effugit” (“Naught escapes us”) spoke directly to the relentless patrol work that defined the squadron’s war. The unit transferred briefly to Transport Command for trooping flights before disbanding on 25 April 1946.