No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force

No 2 Squadron of the RAF was founded as No. 2 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps at Farnborough in 1913. It saw extensive service in France during the First World War in reconnaissance and ground attack roles.
Between the wars the Squadron was formally named the No.2 (Army Cooperation) Squadron, and flew in support of ground troop activities in Ireland and between April and October 1927 in Shanghai. At the outbreak of World War II, the Squadron was based at RAF Hawkinge operating the Westland Lysander aircraft primarily in a reconnaissance role.
Bases used by No.2 Squadron during WW2:

30 November 1935-6 October 1939: Hawkinge
6 October 1939-19 May 1940: Abbeville/ Drucat (France)
19 May-8 June 1940: Bekesbourne
8 June-24 October 1940: Hatfield
24 October 1940-3 February 1943: Sawbridgeworth
3 February-20 March 1943: Bottisham
20 March-27 April 1943: Fowlmere
27 April-16 July 1943: Sawbridgworth
17 July-10 August 1943: Gravesend
10 August 1943-22 January 1944: Odiham
29 February-11 March 1944: Sawbridgworth
11-24 March 1944: Dundonald
24 March-4 April 1944: Sawbridgworth
4 April-30 July 1944: Gatwick
30 July-14 August 1944: B.10 Plumetot (France)
14 August-3 September 1944: B.4 Beny-sur-Mer
3-6 September 1944: B.27 Boisney
6-11 September 1944: B.31 Fresnoy Folney
11-27 September 1944: B.43 Fort Rouge
27 September-11 October 1944: B.61 St. Denis Westrem
11-23 October 1944: B.70 Deurne
23 October 1944-9 March 1945: B.77 Gilze-Rijen
9 March-18 April 1945: B.89 Mill
18 April-30 May 1945: B.106 Twente
30 May-18 June 1945: B.116: Celle
18 June 1945: B.150 Hustedt

1st Sep 1939 Dugouts

2nd Sep 1939 Posting

3rd Sep 1939 State of Readiness

4th Sep 1939 Camouflage

5th Sep 1939 Musketry

6th Sep 1939 Messing Committee

8th Sep 1939 Black Out

9th Sep 1939 Orders

10th Sep 1939 Parade

11th Sep 1939 Inoculations

12th Sep 1939 Lecture

13th Sep 1939 Appointment

14th Sep 1939 Training

15th Sep 1939 Training

16th Sep 1939 Training

18th Sep 1939 Letter

20th Sep 1939 Tents

21st Sep 1939 Tents

22nd Sep 1939 Equipment

23rd Sep 1939 Innoculations

25th Sep 1939 Training

26th Sep 1939 Sports & Entertainment

27th Sep 1939 Orders Issued

28th Sep 1939 Advance Party

29th Sep 1939 Advance Party

30th Sep 1939 Preparations

1st October 1939 Move to France

1st Oct 1939 On the Move

1st Oct 1939 On the Move

2nd Oct 1939 On the Move

2nd Oct 1939 On the Move

3rd Oct 1939 On the Move

6th Oct 1939 To France

6th Oct 1939 On the Move

10th Oct 1939 Photography

13th Oct 1939 Inspection

15th Oct 1939 Poor Weather

16th Oct 1939 Salvage Party

17th Oct 1939 Recce & Photography

18th Oct 1939 Aircraft Lost

18th Oct 1939 Photography

19th Oct 1939 Low Cloud

21st Oct 1939 Photography

22nd Oct 1939 Recce

23rd Oct 1939 Air Raid Warning

24th Oct 1939 Recce

25th Oct 1939 Low Cloud

26th Oct 1939 Low Cloud

27th Oct 1939 Cloudy

28th Oct 1939 Course

29th Oct 1939 Poor Weather

30th Oct 1939 Sorties

31st Oct 1939 Recce

19th Nov 1939 Sport

10th May 1940 Move to Belgium

17th May 1940 Aircraft damaged

19th May 1940 Withdrawal

20th May 1940 In Support

22nd May 1940 Aircraft lost

31st May 1940 Aircraft lost

1st June 1940 Aircraft lost

8th June 1940 Rebuilding

3rd September 1940 Operations

24th October 1940 Move

Aug 1941 Reconaissance

June 1942 Re-Equipped

3rd February 1943 Move due to flooding

1st March 1943 Preparation for Exercise Spartan

2nd March 1943 Exercise Spartan

3rd March 1943 Exercise Spartan

5th March 1943 Exercise Spartan

5th March 1943 Exercise Spartan

6th March 1943 Exercise Spartan movements

7th March 1943 Exercise Spartan

8th March 1943 Exercise Spartan

8th March 1943 Exercise Spartan

11th March 1943 Exercise Spartan

12th March 1943 Exercise Spartan ended

20th March 1943 On the move

17th July 1943 On the Move

10th August 1943 On the move

29th February 1944 Recce Squadron relocated

4th April 1944 Photo Reconnaissance

6th June 1944 Invasion

6th June 1944 Photography

27th June 1944 Preparations

30th July 1944 Overseas

16th Aug 1944 Reconnaissance

30th May 1945 Move Following VE Day No.2 Squadron moved into Germany as part of the Army of Occupation.

30 May-18 June 1945: B.116: Celle
18 June 1945: B.150 Hustedt

30th May 1945 Move

31st August 1945 Aerial maps

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Logbooks

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Those known to have served with
No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force
during the Second World War 1939-1945.

Getgood Jack.
Getgood Lawrie.
Rees Peter Curtis.
Reich Douglas Gordon. Flt.Lt.

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources.

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Want to know more about No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force?

There are:2090 items tagged No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force available in our Library

These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.

Jack Getgood 2 Sqdn.

Jack and Lawrie Getgood went from Hatfield to Sawbridgeworth with No. 2 Sqdn when an Advanced Landing Ground was opened on farm fields there on 15th June 1940. Jack was a Fitter's Mate; Lawrie was a Wireless Operator.

Lawrie Getgood

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Lawrie Getgood 2 Sqdn.

My brother Jack and I went from Hatfield to Sawbridgeworth with No. 2 Sqdn when an Advanced Landing Ground was opened on farm fields there on 15th June 1940. He was a Fitter's Mate; I was a Wireless Operator.

Lawrie Getgood

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Peter Curtis Rees "A" Flt 6.I.T.W 2 Sqdn.

I have a photograph of my uncle, Peter Curtis Rees, taken at Sawbridgeworth with the rest of No 2 Squadron "A" flight 6.I.T.W, dated November 1943.

Dave Rees

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Flt.Lt. Douglas Gordon Reich Photographic 2 Operational Squadron

Douglas Reich was a 17-year-old lad from Worsley, Manchester when war was declared. After volunteering for the RAF at 18, he was sailing on the Liberty Ship “The George F Eliott” in March 1942 when it was diverted to New York to avoid U. Boat attacks, so he took the train to Montreal. He was posted to No 5 Elementary Flying Training School at Windsor Mills, Flying Fleet Finch Mk. 2. After 5 hours and 20 minutes duel instruction, he took his first solo flight and finished the course with 65 hours flying time. He was then posted to No 13 Service Flying Training School at St Huberts, 100 miles from Montreal, to fly Harvards. After 2 weeks, his instructor was badly injured and his pupil killed, so he got a new instructor F/O Thompson. Towards the end of the course, Reich belly landed the plane after the engine caught fire, but finished the course and was awarded his commission. He returned from Canada in December 1942 with 220 hours flying time and then went to Tern Hill, Shropshire, England on refresher courses flying Miles Master and Kestrels.
In 1943 he went to an operational training unit at Hawarden, North Wales, to fly Mustang Mk I, - single seater fighter planes - and in May, was posted to No 2 Operational Squadron, an Army co-op squadron, at Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, to fly low-level photography reconnaissance missions. He photographed the French coast before D-Day, VI rocket sites and Pegasus bridge in Normandy to see if it could carry Allied tanks. On June 15th 1944, at 08.00hrs he was briefed to lead a section to attack the ferry boats that were taking German troops across the River Seine. The ferry was allowing them to get to the beachhead much quicker than by road.
He took off from Gatwick Aerodrome about 8.40am to attack the ferry boats transporting troops across the River Seine. At a place called Caudebec, he saw a ferry on the bank and blasted it with his four 20mm cannons. He pulled up, turned and fired on another ferry on the opposite bank then turned back over the river. Doing well over 300mph and flying very low, he crashed in to the Seine at Caudebec.
He floated in the river for 5 hours before being picked up unconscious by a French fishing boat crew who handed him over to the Germans. Regaining consciousness in a French cottage hospital about 10 hours later, he awoke as a Prisoner of War. It was a miracle he survived with only bruising, concussion and a broken ankle, although he had also burst all the blood vessels in his eyes! This is due to the fact that he had given his ‘Mae West’ inflatable lifejacket a few lungfuls of air before take-off. He had done this in case a crash ever burned his hands and he couldn’t hold and blow into his mouthpiece while in water. But the crash’s cause remains a mystery. Says Doug: “The only thing I can think of is that I’d been flying too low, put a wing tip in the water and cartwheeled in.” He spent weeks in hospitals and was interrogated in Frankfurt where his Scottish name had sparked confusion. “When I was being interrogated in Frankfurt beforehand, the interrogator looked at my name, blue eyes and fair hair and thought I was German. I said ‘I am not! All my relatives come from the Glamis area of Scotland.’ Reich was probably misspelt in the 1700s.”
He was sent to Stalag Luft I in July 1944 on Germany’s Baltic coast at a small town named Barth, near to Stettin where he spent the last 11 months of the war. Its sister camp, Stalag Luft III, inspired the Great Escape film, although no one escaped from Doug’s camp while he was there.
Conditions in the camp were tough but inmates got Red Cross parcels from Britain and the US to stave off starvation. Under captivity, however, he did develop acute appendicitis. A fellow POW and doctor removed the organ by torchlight during an air raid.
Doug survived and prisoners learnt about the end of the war by listening to a secret hidden radio in the camp hospital. In May, 1945, Stalag Luft I was liberated by the Russians. The mood, of course, brightened with unexpected perks. He said: “A day or so later, a Russian Colonel visited our camp and decided we needed some fresh meat. So he sent a very drunk soldier who drove a herd of cows through our gate. It was very funny.”
On May 13, 1945, a fleet of American Flying Fortresses evacuated all RAF personnel. Doug returned to England left the RAF in 1946 and got a job as a newspaper photo engraver in Manchester. He married Sheila in 1948 and had a son and a daughter and currently (2009) have three grandchildren and a great grandchild.

Elizabeth Whyman

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No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force

Logbooks

Those known to have served with
No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force
during the Second World War 1939-1945.

The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements

Want to know more about No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project - No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War -

No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force

Logbooks

Those known to have served with No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Forceduring the Second World War 1939-1945.

The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements

Want to know more about No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project
- No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War -

Those known to have served with
No . 2 Squadron Royal Air Force
during the Second World War 1939-1945.