No. 299 Squadron RAF
Encyclopedia
History
No. 299 Squadron was formed on 4 November 1943 form 'C' flight of 297 SquadronNo. 297 Squadron RAF
No 297 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was notable for being the first airborne forces squadron formed. With sister No 296 Squadron it formed No 38 Wing RAF -soon to be expanded with sister No 295 Squadron, which expanded later to become No 38 Group RAF.-Formation and World War...
at RAF Stoney Cross
RAF Stoney Cross
RAF Station Stoney Cross is a former World War II airfield in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. The airfield is located approximately northwest of Lyndhurst and west of Southampton....
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
as a special operations
Special operations
Special operations are military operations that are considered "special" .Special operations are typically performed independently or in conjunction with conventional military operations. The primary goal is to achieve a political or military objective where a conventional force requirement does...
squadron. It became operational in April 1944 dropping SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
agents. During the Normandy landing the squadron first delivered paratroopers, and then returned to air-tow 16 Airspeed Horsa
Airspeed Horsa
The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British World War II troop-carrying glider built by Airspeed Limited and subcontractors and used for air assault by British and Allied armed forces...
gliders across the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. The squadron continued operations with resupply drops until the 10 June when it returned to SOE duties.
In between the SOE duties the squadron air-towed Horsa gliders for the Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
landing (Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
), and the Rhine crossing (Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity was a successful joint American–British airborne operation that took place toward the end of World War II...
). It was also involved in supply-dropping to resistance forces in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
until the end of the war.
At the end of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the squadron disbanded at RAF Shepherds Grove
RAF Shepherds Grove
RAF Shepherds Grove is a former Royal Air Force base in Suffolk England 9 miles NE of Bury St Edmunds.The base was built for the United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force during World War II. However the facility was not used by the USAAF and was opened by 3 Group, RAF on 3 April 1944...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
on 15 February 1946.
Aircraft operated
| From | To | Aircraft | Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 1943 | January 1944 | Lockheed Ventura Lockheed Ventura The Lockheed Ventura was a bomber and patrol aircraft of World War II, used by United States and British Commonwealth forces in several guises... |
Mks.I and II |
| January 1944 | February 1946 | Short Stirling Short Stirling The Short Stirling was the first four-engined British heavy bomber of the Second World War. The Stirling was designed and built by Short Brothers to an Air Ministry specification from 1936, and entered service in 1941... |
Mk.IV |
| January 1945 | February 1946 | Short Stirling | Mk.V |
Squadron bases
| From | To | Base |
|---|---|---|
| 4 November 1943 | 15 March 1944 | RAF Stoney Cross RAF Stoney Cross RAF Station Stoney Cross is a former World War II airfield in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. The airfield is located approximately northwest of Lyndhurst and west of Southampton.... , Hampshire Hampshire Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force... |
| 15 March 1944 | 9 October 1944 | RAF Keevil RAF Keevil RAF Keevil is a former World War II airfield in England. The field is located 4 miles east of Trowbridge, Wiltshire.The airfield was built on a site previously ear-marked for the purpose in the mid 1930s... , Wiltshire Wiltshire Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers... |
| 9 October 1944 | 25 January 1945 | RAF Wethersfield, Essex Essex Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west... |
| 25 January 1945 | 15 February 1946 | RAF Shepherds Grove RAF Shepherds Grove RAF Shepherds Grove is a former Royal Air Force base in Suffolk England 9 miles NE of Bury St Edmunds.The base was built for the United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force during World War II. However the facility was not used by the USAAF and was opened by 3 Group, RAF on 3 April 1944... , Suffolk Suffolk Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east... |
Commanding officers
| From | To | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 4 November 1943 | 28 December 1943 | W/Cdr. Wing Commander (rank) Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries... R.W.G. Kitley |
| 28 December 1943 | 19 September 1944 | W/Cdr. P.B.N. Davis, DSO Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September... |
| 19 September 1944 | 1 November 1944 | W/Cdr. P.N. Jennings (acting after KIA of W/Cdr. Davis over Arnhem) |
| 1 November 1944 | 31 December 1944 | W/Cdr. C.B.R. Colenso, DFC Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against... |
| 31 December 1944 | September 1945 | W/Cdr. P.N. Jennings |
| September 1945 | 15 February 1946 | W/Cdr. R.N. Stidolph |