No. 210 Squadron

No. 210 Squadron served throughout the Second World War as a maritime patrol and anti-submarine unit within RAF Coastal Command, operating from bases along the Scottish coast and the Shetland Islands. Initially equipped with the Short Sunderland, the squadron converted to the Consolidated Catalina flying boat in April 1941 and flew the type for the remainder of the war. From RAF Sullom Voe and RAF Oban, crews ranged over the North Atlantic and Arctic approaches, patrolling convoy routes and hunting U-boats. A detachment was sent to the Kola Inlet near Archangel in 1942 to help protect the Russian convoys, and further elements served briefly off Gibraltar in support of Operation Torch. Between May and July 1944 the squadron destroyed four U-boats in rapid succession. The most celebrated action came on 17 July 1944, when Flying Officer John Cruickshank pressed home a depth-charge attack on a German submarine despite being wounded in 72 places, refused morphine for the five-and-a-half-hour flight home, and was subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross.