No. 224 Squadron

No. 224 Squadron was originally formed on 1 April 1918 from Royal Naval Air Service assets at Alimini in Italy, before disbanding in 1919 and reforming on 1 February 1937 at RAF Manston as a General Reconnaissance unit. By the outbreak of the Second World War the squadron was based at RAF Leuchars under No. 18 Group, Coastal Command, flying Lockheed Hudsons on patrols over the North Sea against German shipping and providing convoy escorts. On 8 October 1939 three of its Hudsons shot down a Dornier Do 18 flying boat, a claim regarded at the time as the first enemy aircraft destroyed by the RAF in the war. From 1942 onwards the squadron converted to Consolidated Liberators and shifted its primary focus to anti-submarine warfare, operating successively from Limavady, St Eval, and Tiree; it was transferred to No. 19 Group in February 1943. Over the course of the war the squadron destroyed ten U-boats in total, including a remarkable double kill in a single sortie by Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Moore on 8 June 1944. The squadron carried its Italian-language motto, “Fedele all’amico” — faithful to a friend — throughout its long service life, which continued after the war until final disbandment on 31 October 1966.