No. 226 Squadron

Motto: "Non sibi sed patriœ" ("For country not for self").
Badge: On a fountain a decrescent. The fountain-symbolic of water commemorates the fact that in the First World War the squadron operated mostly over the sea. The crescent has reference to its bombing of Constantinople and to the fact that many of its duties were performed at night.
Authority: King George VI, June 1939.

In the spring of 1917 No.6 Wing, RNAS was established at Otranto, Southern Italy, as part of the organisation designed to combat submarine activity in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. The units comprising the wing had no separate identity until the formation of the Royal Air Force in April 1918. No. 6 Wing was then expanded to form Nos. 66 and 67 Wings under the Adriatic Group. The units were reorganised into squadrons and the bombing unit equipped with DH4s and, operating from Pizzone aerodrome, Taranto, was designated No. 226 Squadron (No. 67 Wing).

The work of the squadron during the summer of 1918 consisted mainly of anti-submarine patrols, reconnaissance of the enemy coast and the bombing of Austrian submarine bases. DH9s gradually replaced the DH4s and, from August onwards, considerable attention was paid to the bombing of enemy lines of communication.

During August No. 226 Squadron took part in the bombing raids on the important submarine base at Cattaro, and in the following month flew to Andrano to co-operate with the Italian forces in Albania. On 2nd October the squadrons - including No. 226 - of Nos. 66 and 67 Wings co-operated with the combined Allied fleets in an attack on Durazzo and dropped about five tons of bombs on railway sidings and dumps. Shortly after this operation No. 226 Squadron left the Adriatic for the Aegean, joining No. 62 Wing at Mudros early in October. During that month the squadron made successful bombing raids on Constantinople.

After the Armistice the squadron returned to Taranto and in December 1918, was disbanded.

In March 1937, the squadron was re-formed at Upper Heyford as No. 226 (Bomber) Squadron under the RAF Expansion Scheme. It flew Hawker Audaxes at first and then, in October 1937, re-equipped with Fairey Battles.

On 2nd September 1939, its 16 Battles landed at Rheims, France, as part of No.72 Wing of the Advanced Air Striking Force. During the German invasion of Belgium and France the squadron fought hard, bombing motor transport columns and other tactical targets in an attempt to delay the enemy's advance. It withdrew to England in mid-June 1940, crossed to Northern Ireland later in the month and from July onwards shared with No. 88 Squadron - also equipped with Battles - the task of flying regular dawn and dusk patrols along the entire coast of Northern Ireland as a precaution against possible landings by enemy agents.

After moving to Wattisham, Suffolk, in May 1941, the squadron converted to Blenheims and subsequently made an excellent name for itself during anti-shipping operations and Circuses against fringe targets in North-west Europe. It stood down from operations towards the end of October 1941, and when it resumed them early in the New Year it was flying Bostons.

In the summer of 1942 No. 226 Squadron provided the basis for the first operational action by the USAAF in Europe when the personnel of the 15th Bombardment Squadron (Separate) arrived in Britain as the spearhead of the Eighth Air Force. Nine four-man USAAF crews arrived at Swanton Morley, the station at which No. 226 was then based, on 25th June, and in the afternoon of the 29th one of them helped eleven of No. 226's permanent crews to bomb Hazebrouck marshalling yards in Northern France.

During the early summer of 1943 the squadron converted to Mitchells and subsequently took part in pre-invasion attacks on Northern France and on Noball sites in the Pas de Calais. After D-Day it operated in close support of the advancing Allied armies, and from October 1944, onwards was based on the Continent.

On 12th April 1945, No. 226 Squadron's Mitchell II FW111 "P-Peter" became the first - and, as it proved, the only - RAF Mitchell to make 100 operational sorties. It flew its first operational sortie (as "T-Tare") on 8th April 1944, and on achieving its century (with a sortie against enemy gun positions north of Arnhem on the Canadian 1st Army front) was retired.

Bomber Command WWII Bases:

• Harwell : Apr 1937-Sep 1939
• Rheims, France : Sep 1939-May 1940
  • Detached to Perpignan/La Salanque, France : Feb/Mar 1940.
• Faux-Villecerf, France : May 1940-Jun 1940
• Artins, France : Jun 1940
• Thirsk : Jun 1940
• Sydenham (Belfast) : Jun 1940-May 1941
• Wattisham : May 1941-Dec 1941
  • Detached to Manston during Aug, & to Long Kesh during Nov.
• Swanton Morley : Dec 1941-Feb 1944
  • Detached to Ouston &, later, to Thruxton, during Aug 1942.
  • Detached to Drem during Jul 1943.
• Hartford Bridge (Blackbushe) : Feb 1944-Oct 1944
• Vitry-en-Artois, France : Oct 1944-Apr 1945
• Gilze-Rijen (B77), Holland : Apr 1945 onwards

Bomber Command WWII Aircraft:

• Fairey Battle :Oct 1937-May 1941
• Bristol Blenheim IV : May 1941-Dec 1941
• Douglas Boston III : Nov 1941-Jun 1943
• North American Mitchell II and III : May 1943 onwards

Code Letters:

• During the 1938 Munich crisis No. 226 was allotted the code letters "KP". In WW2 the sqdn's. a/c were coded "MQ".

First Operational Mission in WWII:

• 9th September 1939 : 3 Battles reconnoitred Thionville area.

First Bombing Mission in WWII:

• 10th May 1940 : 4 Battles despatched to dive-bomb German troops advancing through Luxembourg. 2 bombed target and 2 FTR.

Last Operational Mission in WWII:

• 2nd May 1945 : 12 Mitchells bombed marshalling yards at Itzehoe.

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