No. 130 Squadron RAF
| No. 130 Squadron RAF | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Active | 1 Mar 1918 – 4 July 1918 16 June 1941 – 13 February 1944 5 April 1944 – 31 January 1947 1 August 1953 – 31 May 1957 1 December 1959 – 23 August 1963 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 Royal Air Force
|
| Motto(s) | Strong to serve |
| Insignia | |
| Squadron Badge heraldry | An elephant's head couped. Elephants are formidable opponents and are associated with the Punjab. |
| Identification symbol |
PJ 1941 - Feb 1944 AP Apr 1944 - 1947 |
No. 130 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was a Second World War and Cold war fighter squadron, and later a strategic missile squadron.
The squadron was first formed on 1 March 1918 as part of the Royal Flying Corps. Based at RAF Wyton it soon moved to RAF Hucknall as a training unit to convert pilots and observers on to the Airco DH.9. With enough crews available for duties in France the squadron was disbanded on 4 July 1918.
The squadron was formed again on 16 June 1941, as 130 (Punjab) Squadron following a donation of a squadron of Supermarine Spitfires by the state of Punjab.
Based at Portreath it operated shipping patrols in the south west approaches to England. With the long summer nights it soon became active on fighter sweeps over northern France, it would fly to bases in the south-east of England in the morning to carry out operations and return to Cornwall at night. When winter approached it returned to coastal patrols until March 1943 when it moved North to Scotland. Having rested it was soon moved back to RAF West Malling in Kent to resume operations over France, this only lasted a month and it was moved North again as it lacked experienced pilots. It was disbanded on 13 February 1944 at RAF Scorton.
To maintain the tradition of a Punjab squadron 186 Squadron at RAF Lympne was re-numbered as No. 130 (Punjab) on 5 April 1944. As before, the squadron was equipped with Spitfires. It operated daily bomber escort sorties and, being close to the English Channel, also took on a role in air-sea rescue, both searching for survivors and escorting rescue aircraft. In June 1944 the squadron provided cover for the Normandy beaches and shipping using the Mulberry harbours.
In August 1944 the squadron moved to RAF Tangmere and re-equipped with the more powerful Griffon-engined Spitfire XIV. The new Spitfires used the increased performance to operate Diver sorties: the interception of V-1 flying bombs. As the war progressed in mainland Europe the squadron started to operate ground-attack sorties over France and in October moved to Belgium to carry on the same role. It returned to England in May 1945.
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