No. 242 Squadron RAF

No. 242 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron. It flew in many roles during its active service and it is also known for being the first squadron Douglas Bader commanded.

In World War I
No. 242 Squadron was formed on 15 August 1918 from the numbers 408, 409 and 514 Seaplane Flights at Newhaven Seaplane Base, and continued using the Short 184 from there and the nearby airfield at Telscombe Cliffs on anti-submarine patrols over the English Channel until the end of the First World War.

In World War II
The squadron was reformed at RAF Church Fenton on 30 October 1939 with Canadian personnel. At first using the Bristol Blenheim and Fairey Battle, it converted to the Hawker Hurricane in February 1940.

The Battle for France
In May 1940 it moved to RAF Biggin Hill and went into action over France. Douglas Bader was posted to command the Squadron, as a Squadron Leader, at the end of June 1940, that was mainly made up of Canadians that had suffered high losses in the Battle of France and had low morale. Despite initial resistance to their new commanding officer, the pilots were soon won over by Bader's strong personality and perseverance, especially in cutting through red tape to make the squadron operational again. Upon the formation of No. 12 Group RAF, No. 242 Squadron was assigned to the Group while based at RAF Duxford.

The Battle of Britain
In June 1940 it moved to RAF Coltishall in eastern England and then RAF Duxford as part of No. 12 Group RAF and was involved in the Battle of Britain. In 1941 it started offensive sweeps and bomber escorts and convoy patrols.

Dispersed at Java
In December 1941 the squadron moved to the far East arriving at RAF Seletar on 13 January 1942. The situation was desperate and it had to move to Palembang on Java where the squadron collapsed through lack of spares and was dispersed by 10 March 1942.

Reformed on Spitfires
On 10 April 1942 the squadron re-formed at RAF Turnhouse, Scotland with the Supermarine Spitfire and was involved in coastal patrols. In October it was deployed to North Africa defending Algiers. It fought into Tunisia then moved on to Malta and was involved in the invasion of Sicily and the Salerno beach-head operations. In 1944 it was moved to Syria for a rest period before moving to Corsica where it was part of the invasion of southern France and attacks on northern Italy. The squadron was disbanded in Italy on 4 November 1944.

In Transport Command
The squadron reformed again on the 15 November 1944 at RAF Stoney Cross as a transport squadron, training on the Vickers Wellington then getting operational on the Short Stirling. By 1946 it had become an operator of the Avro York running scheduled freight services into India and to the Azores. In 1948 it became involved in the Berlin Air Lift operating from Wunstorf. After the air lift it returned to England and requipped with Handley Page Hastings. The squadron was disbanded at RAF Lyneham on 1 May 1950.

On missiles
On the 1 October 1959 it was reformed at RAF Marham as a surface-to-air missile unit with the Bristol Bloodhound. It was tasked to protect the V bomber bases until disbanded on 30 September 1964.