No. 201 Squadron RAF

No. 201 Squadron RAF
Official Squadron crest for No. 201 Squadron RAF
Active	17 Oct 1914 (RNAS) – 21 Jun 1915 6 Dec 1916 – 1 Apr 1918 1 Apr 1918 (RAF) – 31 Dec 1919 1 Jan 1929 – 28 Feb 1957 1 Oct 1958 – 26 May 2011
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Nickname(s)	Guernsey's Own Squadron
Motto(s)	Latin: Hic et ubique ("Here and everywhere")
Battle honours	Western Front 1915–1918* Arras*, Ypres, 1917*, Somme, 1918*, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Channel & North Sea, 1939–1945, Norway, 1940*, Atlantic, 1941–1945*, Bismarck*, Biscay, 1941 1945, Normandy, 1944*, South Atlantic, 1982, Gulf, 1991, Iraq, 2003 Honours marked with an asterisk(*) are those emblazoned on the Squadron Standard
Commanders
Notable commanders	Roderic Dallas Robert Marsland Groves
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	A seagull, wings elevated and addorsed
Squadron codes	VQ (Apr 1939 – Sep 1939) ZM (Sep 1939 – Aug 1943) 1 (Nov 1943 – Mar 1944) NS (Jul 1944 – Apr 1951) A (Apr 1951 – Feb 1957)

No. 201 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, until March 2010, operated the Nimrod MR2, based at RAF Kinloss, Moray. It is the only squadron affiliated with Guernsey, in the Channel Islands. This affiliation started in 1935 and is commemorated in the museum on Castle Cornet. Its history goes even further back than the RAF itself, being formed originally as No. 1 Squadron RNAS on 17 Oct 1914.

Despite its high squadron number, 201 Squadron is one of the oldest squadrons in the RAF. It was formed as No. 1 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) on 17 October 1914, and reformed under that designation on 6 December 1916, only being renumbered to 201 Squadron on the formation of the RAF on 1 April 1918 – all the RNAS squadrons getting new numbers by adding 200 to their original number. It started out as a reconnaissance unit, but was soon flying fighter aircraft.

A Victoria Cross was won by a member of No. 1 Squadron RNAS when on 7 June 1915 Sub-Lieutenant R.A.J. Warneford shot down Zeppelin LZ.37.

After the war the squadron was disbanded at RAF Eastleigh on 31 December 1919. Eighteen flying aces served in the squadron during the course of the war, including such notables as Samuel Kinkead, Stanley Wallace Rosevear, Richard Minifie, Roderic Dallas, George Gates, Reginald Brading, Maxwell Findlay, Cyril Ridley, Thomas Gerrard, James Henry Forman, Charles Dawson Booker, Thomas Culling, future Air Vice-Marshal F. H. Maynard, Robert McLaughlin, and Hazel Wallace.