No. 210 Squadron RAF

No. 210 Squadron RAF
Official Squadron crest for no. 210 Squadron RAF
Active	12 Feb 1917(RNAS)– 24 Jun 1919 1 Feb 1920 – 1 Apr 1923 1 Mar 1931 – 31 Dec 1943 1 Jan 1944 – 4 Jun 1945 1 Jun 1946 – 31 Jan 1957 1 Dec 1958 – 31 Oct 1970 1 Nov 1970 – 17 Nov 1971
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Role	Maritime patrol
Motto(s)	Welsh: Yn y nwyfre yn hedfan ("Hovering in the Heavens")
Battle honours	Western Front, 1916–18 Ypres 1917 Lys Atlantic 1939–45 Arctic 1945 Bismarck North Africa, 1942–43 Biscay 1943 All these honours are emblazoned on the squadron standard
Commanders
Notable commanders	W/Cdr. R. Leckie W/Cdr. A.T. Harris
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	A griffin segreant
Squadron Codes	VG (May 1939 – Sep 1939) DA (Sep 1939 – Mar 1944) OZ (Apr 1946 – 1951) L (1951–1956)

No. 210 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit established in World War I. Disbanded and reformed a number of times in the ensuing years, it operated as a fighter squadron during World War I and as a maritime patrol squadron during the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Cold War before it was last deactivated in 1971.

No. 210 Squadron was formed from No. 10 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), when the Royal Air Force was established on 1 April 1918. No. 10 (Naval) Squadron had been raised on 12 February 1917, flying Nieuports and later Sopwith Triplanes, which were in turn replaced by Sopwith Camels in late 1917. One of its pilots was Raymond Collishaw, the RNAS's highest-scoring ace and later an Air Vice-Marshal. The unit remained in Europe after the war, until February 1919. It then returned to the UK and was disbanded on 24 June 1919.

The squadron was reformed on 1 February 1920 from No. 186 Squadron, equipped with the Sopwith Cuckoo torpedo bomber. It disbanded again on 1 April 1923. The squadron reformed again on 1 March 1931, equipped with Supermarine Southampton flying boats, operating first from Felixstowe and then from Pembroke Dock in June 1931. The squadron converted to the Short Rangoon in 1935 and was posted to Gibraltar, returning home in August 1936 to be re-equipped with the Short Singapore. In 1937 the squadron was posted to Algeria as part of an Anglo-French force charged with countering submarine attacks on neutral shipping during the Spanish Civil War. The squadron returned home in December 1937 and from June 1938 began equipping with the Short Sunderland.