Air Force Index

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No. 202 Squadron Royal Air Force   25th August 1939 War footing 3rd September 1939 Establishment 9th September 1939 Move to Gibraltar 11th September 1939 First patrols 20th September 1939 Personnel and Supplies delivered 24th September 1939 French seaplane rescued 30th September 1939 New Group HQ established 9th October 1939  New accommodation 24th October 1939 Three merchantmen sunk 8th December 1939 French convoy 18th December 1939  Officers in new accommodation 6th January 1940 Squadron enlarged 8th February 1940 German ships in harbour 11th March 1940 Routine 26th March 1940 New billets 11th April 1940 Maintenance concerns 13th April 1940 Patrol and escort duties 20th April 1940 High alert 24th April 1940 Squadron strength 29th April 1940 Flying boat on fire 25th May 1940  Defensive precautions 12th June 1940 Detachment to Malta 26th June 1940 Patrols 28th June 1940 Recce over French navy 30th June 1940  Reinforcements 3rd July 1940 Sunderland missing 4th July 1940 Operation Catapult 5th July 1940 Recce of Casablanca 8th July 1940 Recce of Casablanca 11th July 1940 Destroyer torpedoed 12th July 1940 Detachment to Malta 19th July 1940 Submarine sunk 21st July 1940 Italian fighter shot down 29th July 1940 Damaged on take-off 1st August 1940  Sunderlands for Malta 2nd September 1940 Submarine attacked 3rd September 1940 Submarine escapes 4th September 1940   14th September 1940 Shot down by the French 24th September 1940  Gibraltar bombed 18th October 1940 Italian submarine sunk 27th October 1940 Swordfish allocated 29th January 1941 Attack by French aircraft 29th March 1941  Mistaken identity 11th April 1941 Storm damage 24th April 1941 Catalinas allocated to 202 Squadron 6th May 1941 Catalina for training 15th May 1941  Ferry crews 25th May 1941 Refuelling problems 6th June 1941 Catalina lost 7th June 1941 Flying accident claims two lives 8th June 1941 U-Boat attacked 15th June 1941  Convoy bombed 19th June 1941 Merchantman sunk 6th July 1941  U-boat attacked 2nd August 1941  Search for missing aircraft 6th August 1941 U-Boat attacked 10th August 1941  Crashed on landing 12th August 1941 Submarines attacked 30th August 1941 Air-sea rescue 19th September 1941 Italian submarine attacked 22nd September 1941 Crashed on take-off 25th October 1941  Italian sub scuttled 25th October 1941  Escort duties 26th October 1941 escort duties 27th October 1941 HMS Cossack sunk 17th December 1941 Posting 20th December 1941 Crashed in Plymouth Sound 10th March 1942 New aircraft 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. 202 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War 1939-1945. Fletcher Albert Frederick. Sgt. (d.20th Nov 1942) Hunt Maurice Edward . Marshall-Hardy Richard Frederick. Sgt. Marshall-Hardy Richard Frederick. Sgt. 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. 202 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. 202 Squadron Royal Air Force? There are:2068 items tagged No. 202 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. Sgt. Richard Frederick Marshall-Hardy 202 Squadron My father, Richard Marshall-Hardy served as a wireless operator air gunner with 202 Squadron based in Malta and Gibraltar from March 1939. Based initially at Kalafrana, Malta, he flew in Saro England 2 flying-boats mostly on anti-submarine missions between Malta and Gibraltar. On 14th of September 1940 he was shot down by two Vichy French Curtiss fighters 40 miles off Casablanca. After 5 hours in the sea holding onto one of the wing floats he was picked up by a Vichy French submarine and taken to Casablanca. From there via Mediouna, Medea and Aumale internment camps he was transferred to Laghouat PoW Camp. Following his release from Laghouat in 1942 he spent 3 months in hospital in Morecambe before being shipped to Canada to learn to fly. After qualifying he became an instructor. On his return from Canada after the war he flew on the Berlin airlift and remained in the RAF until April 1962 having reached the rank of Squadron Leader. My father died age 86 in 2005. I am presently writing about his wartime and post-war experiences as he told them to me (he never wrote them down) and welcome information from others whose fathers followed the same path. All the wartime photos were taken by my father. Richard Marshall-Hardy Add to this record. Sgt. Albert Frederick Fletcher 202 Squadron (d.20th Nov 1942) Albert Fletcher was my father who was killed in action 9 months after I was born. Robert Fletcher Add to this record. Sgt. Richard Frederick Marshall-Hardy 202 Sqdn. My father, Richard Marshall-Hardy was born 1919 in Bradford, Yorkshire. He lived with his parents in London. He joined up in 1939 as wireless operator/aircrew, rank LAC, flying London II flying boats on anti-submarine patrol based between Gibraltar and Malta. He was shot down by two Vichy French Curtiss fighters 40 miles off Casablanca in the Atlantic. Both Canadian pilots were killed, but my Dad and one crew member survived for five hours before being picked up by a Vichy French submarine. He was taken to Casablanca. Then, over several weeks, he was transferred over the High Atlas mountains to a disused Legionnaire Fort near Zagora in the Draa valley. Dad was there for six months before being transferred to Laghouat POW camp in Algeria. He was a POW from September 1940 to November 1942. After liberation of North Africa and repatriation home, dad spent three months in Morecambe hospital and was briefly in the UK (when I was conceived!). Then in January 1944 he was convoyed across the Atlantic to Canada where he learnt to fly, based in Moncton, Bowden, Medicine Hat, Gimli. He remained as an instuctor and returned to UK (Kidlington) in May 1945, with Bomber Command. He flew on the Berlin airlift and continued in the RAF till 1962, reaching the rank of Squadron Leader. I'm very proud of him! Richard Marshall-Hardy Add to this record. Maurice Edward Hunt 202 Squadron My Dad served with the RCAF, RAF and USAAF during WWII. His name was Maurice Edward Hunt. He was trained in Regina at the #15 Efts and then in York or Yorktown canada where he was awarded his wings. It depresses me to come to the conclusion that he is part of the Lost Legion. He was born October 29, 1920 in Lancaster, Washington, USA. I have no idea if he used an assumed name while in the RCAF. I think not as someone did find some personell cards in his name. He was shot down twice, flew Night Fighters and Spitfires among other aircraft. He had many ribbons which he wore on his USAF uniform but they have vanished. He was discharged from the RAF in 1943. He served as a waist gunner with the USAAF for the rest of the war. I have two photographs of him wearing an american uniform with RAF wings. Also in his air cadet uniform and two newspaper articles on about his fourth oak leaf cluster while serving as a gunner on an B-17 an another about his being shotdown. was with the 202 squadron, 11 group, Bigin Hill. Also that he trained to fly spitfires at Grangemouth, Scotland. Also this is copied from his records: 30 Dec 40 to 3 Mar 43 RCAF & RAF Service Plt Sq Leader, 122 Aerial Missions; 320 Combat Hrs. 5 En Planes shotdown. Dayna Hunt Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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