No. 610 Squadron — County of Chester

No. 610 (County of Chester) Squadron began the war as a Royal Auxiliary Air Force fighter unit based at Hooton Park on the Wirral, converting from Hawker Hinds to Hurricanes and then, by late September 1939, to Spitfires. It flew its first combat over Dunkirk in May–June 1940 from RAF Gravesend, losing seven pilots while claiming ten enemy aircraft destroyed. Moving to RAF Biggin Hill as part of 11 Group, it bore sustained pressure through the height of the Battle of Britain before rotating north to recover. In 1941 the squadron joined Douglas Bader’s Tangmere Wing at Westhampnett, flying offensive sweeps over France. Shipping reconnaissance and coastal defence occupied it through 1942–43. Re-equipped with the Spitfire XIV in early 1944, it spent the summer intercepting V-1 flying bombs, destroying around fifty. The squadron deployed to the Continent in late 1944 and was disbanded at RAF Warmwell on 3 March 1945, having claimed 132 enemy aircraft destroyed across its wartime service.