With the Airborne Forces No. 295 Squadron was formed on 3 August 1942 at
RAF Netheravon as an airborne forces unit, equipped with
Whitley Mk.Vs. These were from November 1942 used in leaflet dropping missions over France, supplemented in February 1943 with
Halifax Mk.Vs, which they used in
Operation Beggar. By October 1943 the squadron converted to the
Albemarle Mk.I. With these aircraft the squadron shared – with
570 Sqn. – the honour of being the first to drop troops over Normandy on the eve of
D-Day, while other aircraft of the squadron towed gliders to the landing zones. The Albemarles gave way in July 1944 to the
Stirling Mk.IV. The squadron used these aircraft during the
Battle of Arnhem during
Operation Market Garden, again towing gliders. In early October 1944, the Short Stirlings of No. 295 Squadron took up residence at
RAF Rivenhall, with most of its operations consisting of supply drops to Norwegian resistance forces and similar activities over the Netherlands and Denmark. The last assault action with the Stirlings was on 24 March 1945, when the unit took part in
Operation Varsity, the crossing of the Rhine. The Stirlings further provided service carrying troops to Norway to disarm the Germans there when the war was over. The squadron was disbanded at Rivenhall on 14 January 1946.
With Transport Command On 21 January 1946
No. 190 Squadron was renumbered to No. 295 Squadron as a Transport Squadron (Rawlings claims 1 February, and does not mention the renumbering), flying Halifaxes of the A.7 type. It was soon disbanded however, on 1 April 1946 at
RAF Tarrant Rushton, the same airfield where it had been reformed and renumbered to
No. 297 Squadron.
With the Airborne Forces again The squadron was reformed again as an airborne forces squadron on 10 September 1947 at
RAF Fairford, again flying Halifaxes, but now the A.9 type. After a little more than a year it disbanded again, at Fairford on 1 October 1948. ==Aircraft operated==