Air Force Index

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No. 136 Squadron Royal Air Force    No. 136 squadron was formed on 1 April 1918 at Lake Down aerodrome near Salisbury, as a service unit working up the introduction of the Airco DH.9 into service. Following a review of aircraft availability, the Squadron was disbanded on the 4 July 1918 without seeing any operational service. 136 squadron reformed on 20th August 1941 at Kirton-in-Lindsey as a Hurricane fighter squadron. After a short period on home defence duties, the squadron embarked for the Middle East on 9th November 1941. However the outbreak of war in the Far East in December resulted in redirection to India and then on to Burma. On arrival in Burma they found a situation where there were many surplus airmen, but a serious shortage of aircraft. Their Hurricanes were reassigned to other Squadrons and the personnel were turned back to India. Re-equipped with Hurricanes in India, the Squadron began air defence duties over Calcutta in March 1942. In December they moved to the Burma front and were employed in the unsuccessful Arakan offensive before returning to the defence of Calcutta in May 1943. While they were there their Hurricanes were replaced by Spitfires. During 1944 the Squadron was back at the Burma front in the second Arakan offensive and the seige of Imphal, before returning to the defence of Calcutta. In July 1944 the Squadron was retired to Ceylon in a training role and then briefly held in reserve without aircraft. It was not until March 1945 that they returned to operations. Equipped with new Spitfires, they were assigned to the defence of RAF Brown on the Cocos Islands where they remained until the Japanese surrender. They then moved into Malaya. Airfields occupied by 136 Squadron: August-November 1941: Kirton-in-Lindsey February 1942: Rangoon (Burma - non-operational) February 1942: Dum Dum (India) February-March 1942: Asansol March-June 1942: Alipore June-August 1942: Red Road August-September 1942: Alipore August-September 1942: Detachment to Vizagapatam September-December 1942: Dum Dum December 1942: Detachment to Chittagong December 1942-June 1943: Chittagong June-November 1943: Baigachi November 1943: Amarda Road November-December 1943: Baigachi December 1943: Ramu/ "Lyons" December 1943: Alipore December 1943-January 1944: Ramu/ "Lyons" January-March 1944: Rumkhapalong March 1944: Sapam March-April 1944: Wangjing / Imphal 17th April-July 1944: Chittagong July-December 1944: Ratmalana (Ceylon) December 1944-March 1945: Minneriya (non-operational) April-October 1945: RAF Brown (Cocos Islands)   20th August 1941 New fighter squadron formed 28th September 1941 Operational 9th November 1941 Departure for the Middle East 15th February 1942 Aircraft requisitioned 28th February 1942 Squadron reassembled in India 31st March 1942 Operational again 27th May 1942 Two 136 Squadron Hurricanes lost 8th June 1942 Killed in flying accident 15th June 1942 Relocated 15th August 1942 Shipping patrols extended 20th September 1942 On the move 6th October 1942 Killed on test flight 15th December 1942 Offensive operations 26th December 1942 Bomber shot down 29th December 1942 Survived crash landing 13th January 1943 Failed to return 28th February 1943 Two Hurricanes lost in combat. 15th March 1943 Four pilots lost on bomber escort sortie 15th March 1943 Four pilots lost on bomber escort sortie 4th April 1943 Airfield attacked; pilot killed 9th April 1943 Airfield attacked 16th April 1943 Night attacks 20th April 1943  Landing accident 2nd May 1943 Attack on airfields 16th May 1943 Dog fight tactics 22nd May 1943 Chittagong airfield bombed 29th May 1943 Chittagong bombed 3rd June 1943 Raiders driven off 10th October 1943 Poor Conditions 24th November 1943 Piloting the ambulance 3rd December 1943 Operations 5th December 1943 Bombers out of range 5th December 1943 Three Hurricanes shot down 7th December 1943 Defence of Calcutta 26th December 1943 Aladdin late for curtain call 31st December 1943 Spitfires Lost 1st January 1944 New Aircraft 15th January 1944  Enemy raids intercepted 20th January 1944 Unsatisfactory dogfight 4th February 1944 Dog Fight 5th February 1944 Outnumbered 6th February 1944 All stations on alert 8th February 1944 Supplies Delivered 9th February 1944 Heel Trap deployed successfully 10th February 1944 Battle of the Admin Box 13th February 1944 3 Groups of Raiders Intercepted 16-20th February 1944 Japanese airforce kept at bay 21st February 1944  Air dominance secured 5th March 1944 Move 11th March 1944 Orders 16th March 1944 Japanese bombers driven off 17th March 1944 Shot down over Palel airfield 4th April 1944 In the Box 11th April 1944 Dakota crashed in the jungle 13th April 1944 Missing in Action 15th April 1944 Imphal airfield bombed 17th April 1944 Evacuated 29th April 1944 New Zealand Spitfire pilot killed 26th June 1944 Crash on practice flight 15th July 1944 To Ceylon 2nd September 1944 Crash during practice 11th December 1944 Christmas Dance 19th February 1945 Non-Operation - but rumours of posting 29 March 1945 Embarked for destination unknown 31st March 1945 Briefing 7th April 1945 Piano delivered but no ammunition 12th April 1945 New Spifires delivered in crates 26th April 1945 First flights from RAF Brown 2nd May 1945 Flying restricted by construction work 12th June 1945  Mosquitos lost over the Pacific 23rd June 1945 Sharks If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Logbooks Do you have a WW2 Flying Log Book in your possession? If so it would be a huge help if you could add logbook entries to our new database. Thank you. View Logbook entries Those known to have served with No. 136 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War 1939-1945. Cameron John James. Sgt. Higgins William. Flt.Sgt. (d.15th Jan 1943) 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. 136 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 25 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 16th Jan 2025 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 265273 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQs The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about No. 136 Squadron Royal Air Force? There are:2070 items tagged No. 136 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. Flt.Sgt. William Higgins 136 Squadron (d.15th Jan 1943) Bill Higgins (my uncle) was shot down somewhere over Burma on 15th of January 1943 just before his 21st birthday, whilst flying a Hawker Hurricane. Helen Price Add to this record. Recomended Reading. 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