No. 88 Squadron — Hong Kong

No. 88 (Hong Kong) Squadron was reformed at RAF Waddington on 7 June 1937, taking its honorific from the colony whose public subscription helped fund the unit. At the outbreak of war it flew Fairey Battles with the Advanced Air Striking Force in France, sustaining severe losses during the German offensive of May 1940 before withdrawing to Britain. After a period on patrol duties from Sydenham in Northern Ireland, the squadron moved to East Anglia in mid-1941 and became the first RAF unit to equip with the Douglas Boston, conducting daylight low-level attacks on shipping, rail targets and industrial sites across occupied Europe under No. 2 Group. Among its most notable wartime actions were participation in the Dieppe raid of August 1942, the daring low-level strike against the Philips works at Eindhoven in December 1942 (Operation Oyster), and the laying of a smokescreen to protect the first assault waves on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Transferring to the 2nd Tactical Air Force in late 1944, it operated from Vitry-en-Artois in France in support of the Allied advance until disbandment on 4 April 1945.