No. 202 Squadron RAF

No. 202 Squadron of the Royal Air Force presently operates the Sea King HAR.3 in the Search and rescue role at three stations in the northern half of the United Kingdom. It was originally formed as one of the first aeroplane squadrons of the RNAS before it became part of the RAF.

Formation and World War I
No. 202 Squadron was formed -along with the entire RAF- on 1 April 1918 by renumbering No. 2 Squadron RNAS. It was originally formed as one of the first aeroplane squadrons of the RNAS on 17 October 1914. It served on the Western Front during the First World War, carrying out reconnaissance and bombing missions from bases in Belgium and France before being disbanded on 22 January 1920.

The interbellum
No. 202 was reformed for a brief existence as fleet co-operation unit between 9 Apr 1920 and 16 May 1921 and some eight years later the squadron came to live again when No. 481 Flight, operating the Fairey III floatplane at Malta was re-numbered as 202 Squadron in 1929, continuing to fly patrols over the Mediterranean Sea throughout the 1930s, being re-equipped with Supermarine Scapa flying boats in 1935.

World War II
During the Second World War, 202 Squadron flew anti-submarine patrols from Gibraltar with Saro London, Consolidated Catalina and Short Sunderland flying boats and some Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers until 1944, when it moved with their Catalinas to RAF Castle Archdale, Northern Ireland, disbanding there on 12 June 1945.

Weather Reconnaissance
202 Squadron reformed by renumbering 518 Squadron as a Weather Reconnaissance squadron at RAF Aldergrove near Belfast on 1 October 1946, flying converted Halifax Met.6 bombers on long range meteorological flights over the North Atlantic (codenamed "Bismuth"). It re-equipped with the more modern Hastings Met.1 from November 1950, continuing in this role until disbanding on 31 July 1964.

Search and Rescue
No. 202 Squadron was reformed on 1 September 1964 by the renumbering of No. 228 Squadron RAF at RAF Leconfield. The squadron began operating in its search and rescue role using the Westland Whirlwind HAR.10 helicopter. The squadron moved to RAF Finningley on re-equipping with Sea Kings in 1978 (operating the Wessex HAR.2 as an intermediate type while its Sea Kings were sent to the Falklands War), moving its HQ to RAF Boulmer on the closure of Finningley in 1996, and then to RAF Valley at the start of 2008 where the HQ is co-located with the SAR Force HQ and HQ 22 Squadron.

The primary role of RAF search and rescue is the recovery of downed military aviators, but in peacetime its aircraft are available all year round for use in civilian distress incidents. Since 1973, over 95% of the rescues carried out by 202 Squadron have been civilian incidents. The rescues carried out over the years by 202 Squadron have included a wide variety of incidents involving rescuing casualties from aircraft, fishing trawlers, ferries, oil rigs, mountainous terrain, cliffs and the waters surrounding Scotland.

The squadron usually has two aircraft at each of its detached flight locations which, as of 2008, are: The squadron maintains a 15-minutes readiness state during daylight hours and a 45-minutes readiness state during the hours of darkness. The Search and Rescue fleet of Sea Kings are fitted with a video/infrared detection pod, which is similar to the equipment used by police helicopters, to help search for casualties.
 * HQ - RAF Valley
 * 'A' Flight - RAF Boulmer
 * 'D' Flight - RAF Lossiemouth
 * 'E' Flight - RAF Leconfield

Aircraft operated

 * Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2
 * Avro 504
 * Bristol Scout
 * Nieuport 17
 * Sopwith Pup
 * Sopwith 1½ Strutter
 * Farman F.20
 * Short 184
 * Airco DH.4
 * Airco DH.9
 * Fairey IIId
 * Fairey IIIf
 * Supermarine Scapa
 * Saro London
 * PBY Catalina
 * Fairey Swordfish
 * Short Sunderland
 * Handley Page Halifax
 * Handley Page Hastings
 * Westland Whirlwind
 * Westland Sea King