Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

No. 203 Squadron RAF

For the purpose of this website, No. 203 Squadron is included as one of the RAF Squadrons to which Australians were posted during WW II, and in which they served fought and often died.

The Empire Air Training Scheme supplied tens of thousands of aircrew for the Royal Air Force (RAF) air war in Europe during WW II. While a number of so-called Article XV national squadrons were created in Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands of the RAF, the majority of Australian aircrew were posted, along with their Commonwealth colleagues, to RAF Squadrons as individual crew members,where they would 'crew up' often with a very multi-national aircrew comprised of men from all over the Commownwealth. Ground staff were similarly assigned. 

Extract from RAF MoD UK website:

Starting life as a Royal Naval Air Service fighter squadron in WW1, the unit was disbancded at the end of hostilities.

On 1st January 1929, No 482 Flight at Mount Batten (Plymouth UK and later to be home to 10 Squadron RAAF for much of WW2) was renumbered No. 203 Squadron and the unit moved to Basra in Iraq with Supermarine Southampton flying boats. The aircraft were used for anti-piracy and policing duties in the Persian Gulf and with the arrival of Short Rangoons in 1931 a number of local rulers were entertained in the capacious cabins whenever trouble was brewing. With war imminent, the squadron, now equipped with Short Singapores, flew to Aden and converted shortly after to Bristol Blenheims.

After the Italian declaration of war in June 1940, No. 203 became heavily involved in the East Africa campaign before moving on to Crete to cover the evacuation of the beleaguered island. The squadron flew anti-shipping patrols around the Middle and Far East with a variety of types including Martin Baltimores, Vickers Wellingtons and US Consolidated Liberators.  Based out of Ceylon, they operated over the Bay of Begal and the Netherlands East Indies until war's end, remaining in Ceylon until May 1946 when it returned to Leuchars and then St Eval and to re-equip with Lancasters. These aircraft survived until late 1952 when the unit relocated to Topcliffe prior to converting to Lockheed Neptunes for anti-submarine and maritime patrols over the North Sea. These aircraft barely lasted three years, and the Squadron was disbanded in September 1956.

On 1st November 1958, No. 240 Squadron based at Ballykelly with Shackletons was renumbered No. 203. Various versions of the type were flown until October 1971, when the first Nimrods arrived. Now based at Luqa in Malta, the unit patrolled the Mediterranean until disbanded on the final day of 1977.

In October 1996, the Sea King HAR Mk3A OCU at St Mawgan was renamed No. 203 (Reserve) Squadron, thus returning one of the oldest RNAS / RAF squadrons to active service.

In early 2003, the squadron undertook a detachment to Cyprus providing search and rescue cover for the island while the resident squadron, No. 84, re-equipped with the Griffin HAR Mk2 back in the UK.

Since 2008 203(R) Squadron have been based at RAF Valley as the Sea King Operational Conversion Unit.