World War I The squadron was first formed at
Dover on 24 April 1918, going into action a month later in France. The unit flew
Airco DH.9s in daylight bombing raids and during its 5 months of wartime service, it dropped of bombs over enemy targets in France and Belgium, flying a total of 117 sorties. In 1919, the unit was disbanded, having claimed 37 enemy aircraft during the war.
World War II at
RAF Downham Market The squadron was reformed on 16 March 1936 from elements of
57 Squadron at
RAF Upper Heyford with the
Hawker Hind and re-equipped with the
Fairey Battle in 1938. On 2 September 1939, the unit moved back to France, where it began dropping leaflets and flying reconnaissance missions. By June 1940, having suffered many losses while bombing advancing German troops, the unit was evacuated to England, where it converted to the
Bristol Blenheim. In November, it rearmed with
Vickers Wellingtons and began bombing a wide variety of Axis targets with the new longer-range aeroplanes. In December 1941, the squadron began changing to
Short Stirlings and continued its bombing raids in occupied Europe against everything from infantry columns to V-weapon sites. Missions in 1942 included Operation Canonbury 1 and 2 on the night of 24 April and 4 May to bomb the
Škoda Works factory at Plzeň in Czechoslovakia, in support of the partisan group inserted to assassinate
Reinhard Heydrich in
Operation Anthropoid. In July 1942, the unit moved to
RAF Downham Market and in March 1944 to
RAF Woolfox Lodge in
Rutland. In August 1944, it moved once more, this time to
RAF Methwold with the
Avro Lancaster. Just before the D-Day invasions in Normandy, the Stirlings of 218 Squadron undertook diversionary bombing raids against Wehrmacht shore defences near
Pas de Calais. 218 squadron played a significant role in a diversion known as
Operation Glimmer in which Window was dropped to simulate a naval fleet headed towards the French coast. The operation, which was intended to draw German forces away from the real landing sites over to the south-west, was so important to
Operation Overlord's success that the squadron was temporarily directed by the civilian physicist
Sebastian Pease of
RAF Bomber Command's Operational Research Section to ensure that the deception seemed as authentic as possible at RAF Chedburgh It is to the credit of the pilots and navigators of 218 Squadron that the German shore batteries actually opened fire on the "ghost" fleet that they created. The German
2nd Panzer Division and
116th Panzer Division remained at the Pas de Calais for at least two weeks after D-Day, because they believed that Pas de Calais would be the site of a major British operation. In December 1944 it moved to
Chedburgh as a transport unit. It ceased wartime operations in May 1945, just before the German surrender. Afterwards, it began performing a number of relief efforts in Europe, ranging from rescuing POWs to transporting food and other supplies. No. 218 Squadron's awards include a
Victoria Cross awarded posthumously to Flight Sergeant
Arthur Louis Aaron for "most conspicuous bravery" during a raid on
Turin on 12/13 August 1943. Despite his aircraft being badly damaged and suffering injuries, he brought his aircraft in to land at Bone,
Algeria (now
Annaba Airfield) where he later died of his wounds. Citation at https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36235/supplement/4859
Post War The unit was linked to
No. 115 Squadron RAF between February 1949 and March 1950 and also for the period June 1950 to June 1957. The squadron was reformed – as 218(SM) Sqn. – on 1 December 1959 as one of 20 Strategic Missile (SM) squadrons associated with
Project Emily. The squadron was equipped with three
Thor Intermediate range ballistic missiles, and based at
RAF Harrington in
Northamptonshire. In October 1962, during the
Cuban Missile Crisis, the squadron was kept at full readiness, with the missiles aimed at strategic targets in the
USSR. The squadron was disbanded on 23 August 1963, with the termination of the Thor Program in Britain. ==Notable pilots==