No. 202 Squadron RAF

No. 202 Squadron RAF
Official squadron crest for No. 202 Squadron RAF
Active	17 Oct 1914 (RNAS) - 22 Jan 1920 9 Apr 1920 - 16 May 1921 1 Jan 1929 - 12 Jun 1945 1 Oct 1946 - 31 Jul 1964 1 Sep 1964 - present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Role	Rotary Aircrew Trg
Part of	DHFS, 22 (trg) Gp
Base	RAF Valley plus detached Flights
Motto(s)	Latin: Semper vigilate ("Be Always Vigilant")
Helicopter	Bell 412EP Griffin, AW139
Battle honours	Western Front, 1916-1918 Atlantic, 1939-1945 Mediterranean, 1940-1943 North Africa, 1942-1943 Biscay, 1942-1943 The honours marked with an asterix (*) are those emblazoned on the squadron standard
Commanders
Current commander	Sqn Ldr Andrew McGreevy
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	A mallard alighting
Squadron Codes	JU (Allocated Apr 1939 - Sep 1939, no evidence of use) TQ (Sep 1939 - Aug 1943) AX (May 1941 - Aug 1943) TJ (Jul 1944 - Jun 1945) Y3 (Oct 1946 - Apr 1951) A (Apr 1951 - 1956)

No. 202 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is the maritime and mountains training element of the Defence Helicopter Flying School. operated the Sea King HAR.3 in the Search and rescue role at three stations in the northern half of the United Kingdom. It was originally formed as one of the first aeroplane squadrons of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) before it became part of the RAF.

No. 202 Squadron was formed -along with the entire RAF- on 1 April 1918 by renumbering No. 2 Squadron RNAS. It was originally formed as one of the first aeroplane squadrons of the RNAS on 17 October 1914. It served on the Western Front during the First World War, carrying out reconnaissance and bombing missions from bases in Belgium and France before being disbanded on 22 January 1920.

No. 202 was reformed for a brief existence as fleet co-operation unit between 9 Apr 1920 and 16 May 1921 and some eight years later the squadron came to live again when No. 481 Flight, operating the Fairey III floatplane at Malta was re-numbered as 202 Squadron in 1929, continuing to fly patrols over the Mediterranean Sea throughout the 1930s, being re-equipped with Supermarine Scapa flying boats in 1935.

During the Second World War, 202 Squadron flew anti-submarine patrols from RAF Gibraltar with Saro London, Consolidated Catalina and Short Sunderland flying boats and some Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers until 1944, when it moved with their Catalinas to RAF Castle Archdale, Northern Ireland, disbanding there on 12 June 1945.