No. 248 Squadron RAF
| No. 248 Squadron RAF | |
|---|---|
| Active | August 1918 - 6 March 1919 30 October 1939 – 30 September 1946 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 Royal Air Force
|
| Motto(s) |
French: Il faut en finir ("It is necessary to make an end of it") |
| Insignia | |
| Squadron Badge heraldry | A demi-sword in bend partly withdrawn from the scabbard. |
| Squadron Codes |
WR (Oct 1939 - Oct 1943) DM (Oct 1943 - 1945) |
No. 248 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force, active immediately after World War I, and again during World War II.
248 Squadron RAF was formed at Hornsea Mere in the East Riding of Yorkshire in August 1918 by merging the seaplane flights based at Hornsea Mere (No. 404, 405 and 453 Flights). The new squadron was equipped with Short 184 and Fairey Hamble Baby floatplanes, and was employed in flying anti-submarine patrols off the Yorkshire coast until the end of the First World War in November 1918. It disbanded on 6 March 1919.
The Squadron remained disbanded until after the outbreak of the Second World War, reforming at RAF Hendon as a Night Fighter squadron. It received its first aircraft, Bristol Blenheim IFs, a fighter modification of the twin engined light bomber in December that year. The squadron was still working up when it was transferred to Coastal Command in February 1940, swapping its Blenheim IFs for slightly more modern Blenheim IVFs and moving to RAF North Coates in Lincolnshire. It transferred back to Fighter Command on 22 April 1940, flying fighter patrols over the North Sea from RAF Dyce, Aberdeen and RAF Montrose, and returning to Coastal Command control on 20 June.
The squadron moved to RAF Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands on 31 July 1940, flying reconnaissance and anti-shipping missions off the coast of Norway until it returned to Dyce in January 1941, adding convoy escort to its reconnaissance missions, with a detachment based at RAF Wick in Caithness. In June 1941 the squadron transferred to RAF Bircham Newton in Norfolk, where it re-equipped with the Bristol Beaufighter in July, flying its first missions with the new aircraft on 14 August. It carried out convoy escort missions and strikes against shipping off the Dutch coast from Bircham Newton, while a detachment from the squadron was sent to Cornwall to carry out long-range fighter patrols over the Western Approaches between September and December that year. The squadron moved back to Dyce again in February 1942, flying patrols and escorting strikes by Bristol Beaufort torpedo bombers off Norway.
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