No. 263 Squadron RAF

No. 263 Squadron RAF
Official Squadron Badge Crest of No. 263 Squadron RAF
Active	27 September 1918 – 16 May 1919 20 October 1939 – 28 August 1945 29 August 1945 – 1 July 1958 1 June 1959 – 30 June 1963
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Part of	RAF Fighter Command
Nickname(s)	"Fellowship of the Bellows"
Motto(s)	Latin: Ex ungue leonem ("One knows the lion by his claws")
Engagements	Italy (1918–19) Norway (1940)
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	A lion rampant, holding in its forepaws a cross The lion represents the squadron's association with Scotland, the cross comes from the flag of Norway
Squadron Codes	HE (Oct 1939 – May 1950)

No 263 Squadron was a Royal Air Force fighter squadron formed in Italy towards the end of the First World War. After being disbanded in 1919 it was reformed in 1939 flying mainly strike and heavy fighter aircraft until becoming No 1 Squadron in 1958.

The squadron was formed in Italy on 27 September 1918 from flights of the Royal Naval Air Service after that service's amalgamation with the Royal Flying Corps to form the RAF. It flew Sopwith Babys and Felixstowe F3s from Otranto reconnoitring for submarines escaping from the Adriatic Sea into the Mediterranean Sea. The squadron was disbanded on 16 May 1919.

The squadron reformed as a fighter squadron at RAF Filton near Bristol on 20 October 1939, taking over some of 605 Squadron's biplane Gloster Gladiator Mk.Is. It became operational towards the end of the year and for the first time on 12 January 1940. Around this time the squadron received 22 Gloster Gladiator Mk.IIs to replace the Mk.Is

The Gladiator may look like a First World War aircraft but with twice the speed of most First World War fighters it had considerably better performance. As a fighter, it did not compare well with the type of enemy aircraft it might expect to meet in the Second World War, being only slightly faster than the Heinkel 111 bomber.