No. 322 Squadron — Dutch

No. 322 (Dutch) Squadron RAF was formed on 12 June 1943 at RAF Woodvale, drawing its strength from Dutch fighter pilots who had already been serving within the RAF — most from the recently renumbered No. 167 Squadron. Operating exclusively on Spitfire variants throughout its existence, the squadron began with defensive patrols over the Irish Sea before moving south to take on convoy escort and Channel-sweep duties. During the summer of 1944 it achieved its most celebrated role: re-equipped with the high-performance Spitfire XIV, the squadron became one of the most effective anti-V-1 units in the Air Defence of Great Britain, destroying 108.5 flying bombs between June and August 1944, with Flying Officer Rudy Burgwal accounting for five kills in a single ninety-minute sortie on 8 July. By the latter stages of the war the squadron had transferred to No. 85 Group, Second Tactical Air Force, conducting ground-attack and fighter-sweep operations over Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany before disbanding at Wunstorf on 7 October 1945. Its motto — “Niet praten maar doen” (“Actions, not words”) — was preserved when the squadron was reactivated as a Royal Netherlands Air Force unit in 1946, a continuity that endures to the present day.