No. 143 Squadron Royal Air Force

No 143 Squadron formed at Throwley Aerodrome in February 1918 as a home defence unit to be used against possible German air raids against the south-east England. The unit saw no combat and on 31 October 1919 it disbanded.
The Squadron was reformed in Coastal Command at Aldergrove, Northern Ireland in June 1941. It immediately received Beaufighter aircraft, aircrew and ground staff from 252 Squadron, and an additonal flight of Blenheim IV bombers, and was quickly deployed on maritime reconnaissance and patrols. The Squadron continued this task from Scotland and from airfields in England throughout the war. It moved to the South Coast to provide anti-shipping patrols in the English Channel before and after D-Day. It returned to the North Sea and was re-equipped with Mosquitos in October 1944 when the squadron moved to northern Scotland to join the Banff strike wing, and focussed on shipping strikes on the Norwegian and Danish sea areas for the remainder of the war.
Airfields 143 Squadron flew from:

15th June-1st July 1941: Aldergrove
1st-21st July 1941: Thornaby
21st July-1st September 1941: Dyce

Detachment 21st July-3rd August 1941 Malta

1st September-1st December 1941: Sumburgh

Detachment 28th November-18th December 1941 Malta

1st-18th December 1941: Dyce
18th December 1941-15th April 1942: Aldergrove
15th April-1st June 1942: Limavady
1st June-1st July 1942: Thorney Island
1st July-27th August 1942: Docking
27th August 1942-28th August 1943: North Coates

Detachment 1st August 1942-28th August 1943 Dyce
Detachment 1st August 1942-28th August 1943 Castletown

28th August-10th September 1943: St. Eval
10th September 1943-1st February 1944: Portreath
1st February-25th May 1944: North Coates

Detachment 5th March 1944-25th May 1944 Manston
Detachment 5th March 1944-25th May 1944 Thorney Island
Detachment 5th March 1944-25th May 1944 Wick
Detachment 5th March 1944-25th May 1944 Tain

25th May-5th September 1944: Manston
5th September-23rd October 1944: North Coates
23rd October 1944-May 1945: Banff

15th June 1941 New Coastal Command Squadron formed

1st July 1941 Relocated

21st July 1941 Moves

23rd July 1941 Ship sunk

24th July 1941 Supply Convoy reaches Malta

30th July 1941 Attack on Sardinia

2nd August 1941 Italian airfields attacked

3rd August 1941 Attack on Italy

14th August 1941 Crashed on landing

27th August 1941 Mid-air collision

10th September 1941 Move to Shetland

6th December 1941 Lost in N Africa

18th December 1941 Return

15th April 1942 Training Squadron Relocated

June 1942 Preparations for operations

July 1942 Operational again

27th August 1942 Anti-shipping Strike Wing formed

20th November 1942 Strike Mission not a success

18th April 1943 Strike Wing attacks convoy

29th April 1943 Shot down by convoy flak

7th May 1943 Ditched with engine trouble

1st Jun 1943 Training

2nd Jun 1943 Recces

3rd Jun 1943 Recces

4th Jun 1943 Recces

5th Jun 1943 Good Weather

6th Jun 1943 Training

7th Jun 1943 Recce

8th Jun 1943 Poor Conditions

9th Jun 1943 Aircraft Lost

10th Jun 1943 Recce

11th Jun 1943 Rescue

12th Jun 1943 Recce

13th June 1943 Shot down by flak

13th Jun 1943 Attack Made

14th Jun 1943 Training

15th Jun 1943 Training

16th Jun 1943 Award

17th Jun 1943 Enemy Aircraft

18th Jun 1943 Poor Conditions

19th Jun 1943 Convoy Sighted

20th Jun 1943 Convoy Sighted

21st Jun 1943 Standing By

22nd Jun 1943 Attack Made

23rd Jun 1943 Equipment

24th Jun 1943 Training

25th Jun 1943 Air Sea Rescue Patrol

26th Jun 1943 Air Sea Rescue Patrol

27th Jun 1943 Attack Made

28th Jun 1943 Posting

29th Jun 1943 Patrol

30th Jun 1943 Exercise

18th July 1943 Convoy attacked twice

1st August 1943 Lost on recce flight

28th August 1943 Squadron reunited in Cornwall

10th September 1943 Strike Wing for the Western Approaches

10th February 1944 Back to the North Sea

21st February 1944 Hit by flak

23rd February 1944 Ditched off the Lincolnshire Coast

5th March 1944 Detachments

23rd April 1944 Crashed on exercise

25th May 1944 D-Day preparations

2nd September 1944 Four aircraft destroyed on night patrol

September 1944 Return to North Coates

12th September 1944 Missing off Dutch coast

23rd October 1944 Move back to Scotland

7th November 1944 First Mosquito Op

14th November 1944 Norwegian ships attacked

5th December 1944 Attack on shipping in Norway

7th December 1944 Wing attack on shipping beaten off

10th December 1944 Ship attacked without loss

12th December 1944 Airfield and ships attacked

16th December 1944 Two Mosquitos lost

26th December 1944 Shipping attack onNorway

28th December 1944 Ship sunk

31st December 1944 Ships sunk but Mosquito lost

9th January 1945 Attack on ship in Norway

11th January 1945 ASR aircraft loss

15th January 1945 Five Mosquitos lost on shipping raid

25th January 1945 2 killed in Mid-air collision

12th February 1945 Uneventful attack on shipping

7th March 1945 Collision over the Kattegat

12th March 1945 Shot down on shipping patrol

17th March 1945 Mosquitos shot down

23rd March 1945 Three Mosquitos shot down in Norway

30th March 1945 Five ships sunk in harbour

2nd April 1945 Ships damaged

5th April 1945 Two Mosquitos lost on shipping strike

9th April 1945 Three U Boats sunk and four Mosquitos lost

11th April 1945 Shipping sunk and damaged

19th April 1945 U-Boat sunk

21st April 1945 Chance encounter with German bombers

2nd May 1945 U-Boat and Minesweeper sunk

4th May 1945 3 ships sunk and 3 Mosquitos lost

21st May 1945 U-Boat search patrols

1st June 1945 Squadron renumbered

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