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No. 258 Squadron (RAF) WW2

No. 258 Squadron (RAF)  was a fighter squadron that served in Britain until 1941, when it was moved to the Far East. After taking part in the disastrous defence of Singapore, Sumatra and Java the squadron was reformed in India, and spent the rest of the war fighting on the Burma front.

UK Home Defence

The squadron was re-established on 20 November 1940 and was equipped with Hawker Hurricanes from No. 263 Squadron.  It began defensive patrols on 6 January 1941. While the Battle of Britain had been won, 'The Blitz' continued and the squadron briefly relocated to the Isle of Man, moving to the south of England to be in a better pposition to intercept nusiance daylight raids and top protect shipping in the Channel.

Between then and October the squadron spent most of its time providing fighter cover for coastal shipping, although in May and June it took part in a number of sweeps over occupied France.

Far East / Singapore

In October was ordered to deploy to the Middle East, but the Japanese entry into the War re-ordered priorities very quickly and NO. 258 Squadron was directed to the squadron was diverted to Singapore instead. The ground echelon reached Selatar (near Singapore city) on 13 January, and the aircraft followed on 29 January.  By this time the situation was rapidly becoming untenable,  and after only ten days of operations the squadron was forced to evacuate to Palembang in the Netherlands East Indies. After a short period on Sumatra Japanese troops landed uncomfprtably cloase to the airfields, and the squadron moved again, this time to Java. Once there its remaining aircraft were re-allocated to No. 605 Squadron, and the squadron's surviving personnel attempted to escape to Colombo and Australia, While some amde it to Ceylong, all the ships heading for Australia, were sunk en route with no survivors.[1].  See the reference to the BBC UK's 'People's War' series,  below, for further information on what has become known as 'The Squadron that Vanished'.

On 1 March 1942,  'G Squadron', a unit based at Ratmalana and Colombo Racecourse on Ceylon, was re-designated as No. 258 Squadron. Once again the squadron was equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. The new squadron was thrqwon into combat very soon afterwards, when the Japanese mounted a carrier raid on Colombo on 2 April 1942. Between them Nos. 30 and 258 Squadrons despatched thirty-six Hurricanes into the air, losing fifteen of them during the fighting (along with four of six Fairy Fulmars naval reconnaissance aircraft)). Eighteen victories were claimed by the two squadrons.

Burma

By the start of 1943 it was clear that the threat to Ceylon had gone. The squadron moved to Calcutta in January 1943 and spent ten days operating over Burma.  It then returned to Ceylon for another seven months, but by August 1943 thte squadron, equipped with the heavily armed Hurricane IIC returned to the Burma front for what turned out to be the rest of the war.  No. 258 began Operations on 1 September 1943, being employed on fighter sweeps and bomber escort tasks, which defined its operations until the end of the war.

In May 1944, the Squadron was withdrawn to convert to a new aircraft, a US-built heavy fighter, the Republic P47 Thunderbolt, nicknamed 'the Jug'.  Thus equipped, the squadron returned to the front and flew its first operation on 7 December 1944 and the squadron flew operations until June 1945.

Warned out for a role in the invasion of Malaya, the squadron was stood down following the cancellation of this operation so the squadron was disbanded on 31 December 1945. 

The squadron was by the end of the war, largely manned by Royal New Zealand Air Force pilots. (2)

Operational Summary:

1940-1941: UK Home based fighter squadron
1941-February 1942: Fighter squadron Far East
1942-1944: Fighter squadron, India and Burma
1944-1945: Ground attack Burma

Compiled by Steve Larkins Feb 24 from the following sources;

Sources:

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._258_Squadron_RAF (en.wikipedia.org) (1), (2)

BBC UK 'People's War' archive - https://archive.md/20120721232316/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/02/a4204702.shtml (archive.md)

History of War website - http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RAF/258_wwII.html  (www.historyofwar.org)