No. 101 Squadron RAF

No. 101 Squadron RAF
Official Squadron crest
Active	12 July 1917 - 31 December 1919 21 March 1928 - 1 February 1957 15 October 1957 - 4 August 1982 1 May 1984 - present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Role	Air transport/aerial refuelling
Part of	RAF Strike Command
Base	RAF Brize Norton
Motto(s)	Latin: Mens agitat molem ("Mind over matter")
Equipment	Airbus Voyager
Battle honours	Western Front, 1917-1918*; Ypres, 1917*; Somme, 1918*; Lys; Hindenburg Line; Fortress Europe, 1940-1944*; Invasion Ports, 1940*; Ruhr, 1940-1945*; Berlin, 1941*; Channel & North Sea, 1941-1944; Biscay Ports, 1941-1944; German Ports, 1941-1944; Baltic, 1942-1945; Berlin, 1943-1944; France & Germany, 1944-1945; Normandy, 1944*; Walcheren; South Atlantic, 1982; Gulf, 1991; Iraq, 2003 The honours marked with an asterix* are those emblazoned on the Squadron standard
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	Issuant from the battlements of a tower, a demi-lion rampant guardantThe battlements symbolise the Squadron's pioneering role in the development of power-operated gun turrets, while the lion indicates the unit's fighting power and spirit.
Squadron Codes	LU (Apr 1939 - Sep 1939) SR (Sep 1939 - Apr 1951) MW (Allocated to 'C' Flight - May 1942)

No. 101 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Airbus Voyager in the air-to-air refuelling and transport roles from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire.

101 Squadron RFC was formed at Farnborough on 12 July 1917 operating the Royal Aircraft Factory FE2b. Two weeks later it moved to France to operate as a night bomber squadron. In March 1919 the squadron returned to the UK and it was disbanded on 31 December 1919.

The squadron was reformed in March 1928 at RAF Bircham Newton as a day bomber squadron. In 1938 the squadron was equipped with the Bristol Blenheim. In 1941 the squadron changed to a medium-bomber squadron with the Vickers Wellington. These were replaced the following year with the Avro Lancaster. 101 Squadron Lancasters were later equipped with a top secret radio jamming system codenamed "Airborne Cigar" (ABC) operated by an eighth crew member who could understand German, some with German or Jewish backgrounds known as "special operators" commonly abbreviated to "spec ops" or "SO". They sat in a curtained off area towards the rear of the aircraft and located and jammed German fighter controllers broadcasts, occasionally posing as controllers to spread disinformation. The aircraft fitted with the system were distinctive due to the two large vertical antennae rising from the middle of the fuselage. Deliberately breaking the standing operating procedure of radio silence to conduct the jamming made the aircraft highly vulnerable to being tracked and attacked, which resulted in 101 Squadron having the highest casualty rate of any RAF squadron.