World War I No. 217 Squadron traces its ancestry back to the
Royal Naval Air Service. On 31 October 1914 a
RNAS seaplane station was formed at
Dunkerque. On 14 January 1918, a unit consisting of
Airco DH.4s was re-designated No. 17 (Naval) squadron. When the
Royal Air Force was created four months later on 1 April 1918 by merging the
RNAS with the
Royal Flying Corps, this unit was re-numbered No. 217 Squadron RAF, operating out of
Bergues, near
Dunkerque. Equipped with
Avro Ansons, the first RAF monoplane with retractable undercarriage, the squadron performed general reconnaissance duties until the outbreak of
World War II. A single torpedo from one
Beaufort crippled the Italian cruiser
Trento, which was later sunk by the British submarine
HMS Umbra (P.35). On 23 June 1942, twelve
Beauforts of No. 217 and No. 39 Squadrons attacked four destroyers and two large merchant vessels, scoring three hits and one probable hit on one merchant ship and two hits on the other, immobilising the ships. One aircraft of No. 217 Squadron crashed on landing; two from No. 39 Squadron failed to return. Three aircraft were slightly damaged by anti-aircraft fire. The crew were Lieutenant Edward Theodore 'Ted' Strever,
South African Air Force, from Klerksdorp, South Africa. His navigator was an Englishman, 32-year-old Pilot Officer William Martin Dunsmore,
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, from Maghull, Merseyside. Two New Zealanders, 22-year-old Sergeant John Aston Wilkinson, from
Auckland, and 26-year-old Sergeant Alexander Raymond Brown, from Timaru - both of the
Royal New Zealand Air Force - were wireless operators/air gunners. No. 217 Squadron remained on Malta for two months, carrying out anti-shipping attacks across a wide section of the
Mediterranean, reaching as far as Greece.
Far East Operations The surviving aircrew arrived in
Ceylon in July 1942, but had no aircraft, having left their battered
Bristol Beauforts behind in the Middle East. The ground crews arrived by sea in August 1942. It was not until October 1942 that they started to receive
Lockheed Hudsons. In November 1942, crews converted from the
Beaufort to the
Hudson, which was used in anti-submarine patrols. In March, 1945 a group of Royal Engineers on Direction Island, one of the
Cocos Islands, was secretly joined by an advance group of 15 airmen, later supplemented by 200 airmen in three transport ships, to prepare
Station Brown, the staging post. On West Island, they cleared palm-trees from the beach and laid steel planking on crushed coral to serve as an airstrip. With Air Cdre A W Hunt commanding, the base was finished in April 1945. It was fitted out as a refuelling depot and supplied with 81 torpedoes. Unaware of this clandestine activity, groups of up to 12
Beaufighter crews practised long-distance formation flying down the east coast of India from
Karachi to
Colombo in Ceylon, without being told their true target. To extend their range, the aircraft were fitted with an extra 90 gal fuselage tank and a 200 gal external drop-tank instead of the torpedo. Switching over sometimes led to air-locks in the fuel lines, causing two
Beaufighters to ditch in the sea. Fortunately, both crews were rescued. The strike crews were told on 2 May 1945, the day before the planned assault, what the real target was. They were to attack three battleships, an aircraft carrier and several destroyers, protected by fighters from three airfields. This was clearly a dangerous, if not suicidal, mission. Aircraft would be lost on the 1,700 mile outbound journey to the staging post, or would be spotted flying over Sumatra and finally, if they survived the attack, the planes would run out of fuel and have to be abandoned on
Phuket Island. However, on 3 May, the crews were told that
Operation Jinx had been postponed, in favour of
Operation Zipper, supporting the invasion of the Malayan mainland at Mountbatten's directive. Conditions had changed: there were not enough targets in Singapore harbour to be worth the sacrifice of the squadron. On 22 June 1945, some air and ground crews were relocated to
RAF Gannavaram on the Indian east coast in preparation for
Operation Zipper. All other operations were suspended in the meantime, and
Operation Jinx was rescheduled for September 1945. However, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and Japan surrendered soon afterwards on 14 August 1945. The aircraft of No. 217 Squadron never went to the
Cocos Islands. No. 217 Squadron was officially disbanded on 30 September 1945.
Post-War Years From 15 February 1949 the squadron number was kept active by being linked to
No. 210 Squadron RAF, but this ceased on 13 January 1952. No. 217 Squadron re-formed officially the following day on 14 January 1952 as a Maritime Reconnaissance Squadron at their old base
RAF St Eval. Commanded by Wing Commander
Mick Ensor, the squadron received two
Lockheed Neptune MR.1s for trials (Maritime Reconnaissance, Mark 1 was the British designation for the
Lockheed Neptune PV-5). On 7 April 1952, the squadron moved its base of operations to
RAF Kinloss and was fully equipped with
Neptune MR.1s by July 1952. They conducted maritime reconnaissance for five years. The squadron disbanded again on 31 March 1957.
Operation Grapple No. 217 Squadron was re-formed on 1 February 1958 out of No. 1630 Flight, a helicopter unit based at
RAF St Mawgan. In this last incarnation, the squadron operated the
Westland Whirlwind HAR.2 helicopter, and acted in a supporting role in
Operation Grapple, the series of British hydrogen bomb trials being conducted at
Christmas Island in the
Pacific Ocean. The
Westland Whirlwinds of No. 217 Squadron were part of a much larger task force that included
Avro Shackletons,
English Electric Canberras and
Vickers Valiants from other squadrons. Once these trials were completed, the squadron was disbanded on 13 November 1959. ==Aircraft operated==