No. 209 Squadron

No. 209 Squadron entered the Second World War as a general reconnaissance flying boat unit within Coastal Command’s No. 18 Group, moving from its pre-war base at RAF Felixstowe to Invergordon and then Oban for North Atlantic and North Sea patrols. Equipped initially with the troublesome Saro Lerwick and the ageing Stranraer, the squadron re-equipped with Consolidated Catalinas in 1941 and flew anti-submarine sweeps from RAF Castle Archdale on Lough Erne, using the Donegal Corridor over neutral Eire to reach the open Atlantic. A crew from 209 Squadron located the German battleship Bismarck on 26 May 1941; the aircraft carried American naval personnel, then still officially neutral. The squadron sank U-452 in August 1941 and kept watch over the surrendered U-570 days later. From mid-1942 it transferred to East Africa under No. 207 Group, ranging across the Indian Ocean from detachments in South Africa, Madagascar, Oman, and the Seychelles. Re-equipped with Short Sunderlands in early 1945 and moved to Ceylon, the squadron ended the war harassing Japanese coastal shipping off Burma and Malaya.