Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

No. 605 Squadron RAF

This unit is included on this site because it was one of many RAF Squadrons in which RAAF Personnel served fought and died during WW2.  RAAF Aircrew serving in NW Europe represented the single largest cohort of casualties sustained by Australia during WW2.

Formed on 5 October 1926 at RAF Castle Bromwich, it was initially a day bomber unit of the Auxiliary Air Force.

On 1 January 1939 No. 605 squadron was redesignated as a fighter squadron and re-equipped with Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters. 

As the onset of war loomed in NW Europe, Hawker Hurricanes began to arrive and the squadron moved to its war station at RAF Tangmere with a mixture of six Hurricanes and ten Gladiators, completing re-equipment during October 1939.  In February 1940 the squadron moved to Scotland, but returned south in May to fly patrols over northern France for a week before moving back to Scotland at RAF Drem.

15 August saw the heaviest fighting of the entire Battle of Britain, when the Luftwaffe attempted to bring Luftflotte 5 in Norway and Denmark into the battle. No.605 Squadron was one of five fighter squadrons based in the north-east that intercepted this force and prevented it from doing any damage and inflicted such heavy losses on the Germans that they didn't make another daylight attack from Scandinavia during the Battle of Britain.

On 7 September 1940 the squadron moved to Croydon (No.11 Group), and remained there for the rest of the year. It thus took part in the fourth phase of the Battle of Britain (the daylight raids on London) and the final fighter-bomber phase.

From December 1940 the squadron provided fighter escorts for bombers operating over northern France. It moved to the Midlands to provide defensive cover in March, and remained there until it was posted overseas in October 1941.

In November 1941, the squadron flew off the carrier HMS Argus to Malta, where it was retained as part of the island's defences, prior to continuing its journey to the Far East. Arriving in Singapore too late to prevent its capture, it moved to Sumatra and then to Java, but was destroyed in the Japanese invasion.  It operated any aircraft it could fly until it ceased to exist with its personnel either escaping or being captured.

A small detachment of the squadron had been left in Malta.  A unit there formed from the aircraft being flown in and those already there, commencing operations on 10 January 1942 and used the squadron number in its reports.  However it was absorbed into No. 185 Squadron RAF the following month.

A new No. 605 squadron was formed at RAF Ford on 7 June 1942, equipped with Douglas Boston and Havocs (A20) in the intruder role, shooting up and bombing targets in continental Europe. These were replaced with de Havilland Mosquitoes from February 1943 and these remained the squadron aircraft until the end of the war.  At this time, the Mosquito pilots were also engaged in anti-V1 operations aimed at London.  The squadron moved to Belgium in March 1945 and then the Netherlands in April. The squadron disbanded by being re-numbered to No. 4 Squadron RAF on 31 August 1945 at Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands.

The Squadron has reformed in a number of guises since WW2.

Sources:

1.  Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._605_Squadron_RAuxAF

2.  History of War - https://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RAF/605_wwII.html