No. 144 Squadron RAF

No. 144 Squadron RAF
Active	20 March 1918 – 4 February 1919 11 January 1937 – 25 May 1945 1 December 1959 – 23 August 1963
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Role	various
Motto(s)	Who shall stop us

No. 144 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the British Royal Air Force. It was first formed in 1918 during the First World War, operating as a bomber squadron in the Middle East. It reformed in 1937, serving in the bomber and anti-shipping roles during the Second World War. A third incarnation saw the squadron serving as a strategic missile squadron during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

On 20 March 1918, a new squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was established at Port Said in British administrated Egypt. It was intended as a corps reconnaissance squadron, to work in support of the Army, and initially operated a mix of aircraft, including Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2es and Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.12s. The squadron re-equipped with Airco DH.9 light bombers in August that year, reinforcing 40th (Army) Wing as it prepared for a major offensive against Ottoman forces. On 19 September, the opening actions of the Battle of Megiddo began, with 144 Squadron attacking Turkish communication and command centres, including the headquarters of the Ottoman Seventh Army at Nablus. The Ottoman forces were soon in full retreat, and all available air power, including 144 Squadron, was sent to repeatedly attack the force of the Ottoman Seventh Army as it retreated through the Wadi al-Far'a, with the Seventh Army effectively destroyed by these sustained aerial attacks.

On 17 October 1918, the squadron moved to Mudros on the island of Lemnos near the Dardanelles, but the Armistice of Mudros ended the war against the Ottoman Empire on 30 October. The squadron returned to the United Kingdom in December, disbanding at RAF Ford on 4 February 1919.

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