No. 270 Squadron RAF

No. 270 Squadron RAF
Short Sunderland
Active	1919 1942–1945
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force

No. 270 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron that operated both in the First and Second World Wars mainly as an anti-shipping and anti-submarine squadron.

History

No. 270 Squadron was formed from three flights (354, 355 and 356) of the Royal Naval Air Service based at Alexandria with floatplanes and flying boats. The main role was coastal reconnaissance which it continued to do until it was disbanded on 15 September 1919 when it was absorbed into 269 Squadron.

The squadron was re-formed on 12 November 1942 at Jui, in Sierra Leone, with the Consolidated Catalina flying boat. It flew sorties into the mid-Atlantic on anti-submarine patrols, sinking a U-boat in January 1943. It was also tasked with finding ships trying to break the blockade on Vichy France ports. In July 1943 the squadron sailed to Lagos, Nigeria and at the end of that year it re-equipped with the four-engined Short Sunderland. The squadron was disbanded, after the war in the Atlantic had ended, on 30 June 1945 at Apapa, Nigeria.

Aircraft operated

Dates	Aircraft	Variant	Notes
1918	Short 184		Single-engined torpedo seaplane
1918	Felixstowe F.3		Twin-engined reconnaissance flying boat
1918	Sopwith Baby		Single-engined seaplane
1942–1944	Consolidated Catalina	IB	Twin-engined flying boat
1943–1945	Short Sunderland	III	Four-engined flying boat

^[1]

References

Notes

1. Jefford 2001, p. 84.

Bibliography

• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). Orbis Publishing. 1985.
• Jefford, Wing Commander C.G., MBE,BA,RAF (Retd). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.

External links

• No 266 – 270 Squadron Histories