No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Template otherTemplate:Short description No. 310 Squadron RAF was a Czechoslovak-manned fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War.

History

The squadron was formed on 10 July 1940 at RAF Duxford.Template:Sfn It was the first RAF squadron to be raised crewed by foreign nationals, in this case escaped Czechoslovak pilots. Initially it had two Squadron Leaders: the British Douglas Blackwood and the Czechoslovak Alexander Hess.Template:Sfn Hess and many of his men had served in the Czechoslovak Air Force, escaped from Czechoslovakia after it was occupied by Nazi Germany, and then joined the French Air Force and fought in the Battle of France.

Initially the squadron was equipped with Hawker Hurricane I fighters.Template:Sfn The squadron was operational in only a month and as part of 12 Group took part in the Battle of Britain as part of the Duxford Big Wing. The squadron claimed 37½ victories in the battle.

File:Pilots of No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF in front of Hawker Hurricane Mk I at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, 7 September 1940. CH1299.jpg

310 Squadron pilots in front of a Hawker Hurricane at RAF Duxford in September 1940

From 1941 the squadron began offensive operations flying sweeps over the English Channel and providing bomber escorts. In 1941 Hess was transferred to be a Czechoslovak liaison officer at Fighter Command, and on 28 February Sqn Ldr Template:Ill succeeded him in command of 311 Squadron.Template:Sfn

In March 1941 the squadron was re-equipped with the Hurricane II. On 26 June it moved to RAF Martlesham HeathTemplate:Sfn in Suffolk. On 19 July 1941 the squadron moved again, to RAF DyceTemplate:Sfn in Scotland, to rest. It was re-equipped with the Supermarine Spitfire IIa and Vb in October 1941.Template:Sfn

On 14 December 1941 the squadron moved to RAF PerranporthTemplate:Sfn in Cornwall for defensive operations. On 7 April 1942 Sqn Ldr František Doležal succeeded Weber as squadron commander. On 7 May the squadron moved to RAF Exeter.Template:Sfn

On 15 January 1943 Doležal was succeeded by Sqn Ldr Emil Foit.Template:Sfn On 26 June 1943 the squadron moved to RAF CastletownTemplate:Sfn in Caithness, Scotland for another three-month rest period. From July to September it operated the Spitfire VI.Template:Sfn On 18 September 1943 the squadron moved to RAF IbsleyTemplate:Sfn in Hampshire.

On 13 January 1944 Sqn Ldr Hugo Hrbáček succeeded Foit as squadron commander.Template:Sfn On 20 February the squadron moved to RAF Mendlesham in Suffolk, on 29 March it moved again to RAF Rochford in Essex, and on 3 April it moved again to RAF Appledram in West Sussex.Template:Sfn On 21 May Sqn Ldr Václav Raba succeeded Hrbáček as squadron commander.Template:Sfn

File:Kbely museum spitfire 310.jpg

Spitfire Mk IX in 310 Squadron markings at Prague Aviation Museum, Kbely

In 1944 the squadron was re-equipped with the Spitfire IX and became a fighter-bomber unit with 134 Wing, flying ground attack duties during the Normandy landings. From 22 June until 4 July the squadron was based at RAF Tangmere in West Sussex, and from 4 to 11 July it was based at RAF Lympne in Kent.Template:Sfn

On 11 July 1944 the squadron moved to RAF Digby in Lincolnshire, and on 28 August it moved again to RAF North Weald in Essex.Template:Sfn On 15 September Sqn Ldr Jiří Hartman succeeded Raba as squadron commander.Template:Sfn The squadron then spent the rest of the war flying armed reconnaissance missions along the Dutch and Belgian coasts. On 29 December 1944 it moved to RAF Bradwell Bay in Essex, and on 27 February 1945 the squadron moved to RAF Manston in Kent.Template:Sfn

File:Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Fighter Command CH13428.jpg

An RAF Flight Sergeant instructs fellow-pilots on features of the V-1 flying bomb

The squadron's final score was 52½ claims including four V-1 flying bombs shot down. Three of those flying bombs were shot down on 8 July by the same fighter ace, Flt Lt Otto Smik DFC, in one sortie, within 32 minutes of each other.

On 7 August 1945 the squadron moved to Hildesheim, and on 31 August it moved again to Ruzyně Airport in Prague.Template:Sfn It became a squadron of the new Czechoslovak Air Force,Template:Sfn and on 15 February 1946 was officially disbanded as an RAF squadron.Template:Sfn

Aircraft operated

Aircraft usedTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

From	To	Aircraft	Variant	Notes
July 1940	March 1941	Hawker Hurricane	I
March 1941	December 1941	Hawker Hurricane	IIa
June 1941	November 1941	Hawker Hurricane	IIb
October 1941	December 1941	Supermarine Spitfire	IIa
November 1941	March 1944	Supermarine Spitfire	Vb
July 1942	June 1943	Supermarine Spitfire	Vc
July 1943	September 1943	Supermarine Spitfire	VI
September 1943	March 1944	Supermarine Spitfire	Vc
January 1944	July 1944	Supermarine Spitfire	LF.IX
July 1944	September 1944	Supermarine Spitfire	Vb
August 1944	February 1946	Supermarine Spitfire	LF.IX

Surviving Aircraft

Supermarine Spitfire Vc 'AR501' (civil registration G-AWII) built in 1942, remains airworthy, and is maintained & operated by The Shuttleworth Collection in Bedfordshire, England. AR501 was one of a production batch of 300 Spitfires ordered under Contract No. 1305/40 of August 1940 from Westland Aircraft, Yeovil.

File:Spitfire AR501.jpg

Spitfire Mk Vc 'AR501' of The Shuttleworth Collection, shown here in No. 312 (Czech) colours

Following restoration in 2018 by The Shuttleworth Collection it is presented in the squadron colours of No. 312 (Czech) Squadron, which the aircraft moved to on October 10th 1943 from No. 310 (Czech) Squadron. Shuttleworth periodically switch between elliptical and clipped wing configurations.

External links

• – movement and equipment history
• – lists of locations, squadron commanders, flight commanders and aircraft types
• – list of all members