Country United Kingdom Type Inactive | Branch Royal Air Force Part of RAF Coastal Command | |
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Active 1 June 1940 – 18 January 1941
15 August 1942 – 8 December 1945 Allegiance Dutch government in exile | ||
No. 321 (Dutch) Squadron RAF was a unit of the Royal Air Force during World War II formed from the personnel of the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service.
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Formation
Formed on 1 June 1940 at Pembroke Dock, the squadron moved to RAF Carew Cheriton on 28 July 1940 and became operational. The squadron flew coastal and anti-submarine patrols with Avro Anson's until the squadron was disbanded, due to lack of personnel, and merged with No. 320 Squadron on 18 January 1941.
Catalinas
The squadron was re-activated at RAF Trincomalee, Sri Lanka on 15 August 1942 with PBY Catalina's from personnel of the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service who escaped to Ceylon. The squadron's headquarters was located at RAF China Bay with detachments based in Mombasa, Cocos Islands, Socotra, Masirah, Ceylon, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Aden and Cape Town. Supplemented with B-24 Liberator's in July 1945 the air echelon moved to Cocos Island in preparation for the proposed invasion of Malaya.
After the Japanese surrender, relief flights and supply drops to thousands of internees in the POW camps were flown to Java and Sumatra, and in October the squadron moved to its new base near Batavia, where the squadron passed to the control of the Dutch Naval Aviation Service on 8 December 1945, keeping the same squadron number No. 321 Squadron MLD. The 321 Squadron is to be disbanded in 2005, due to budget cuts.