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- No. 141 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War -


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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

No. 141 Squadron Royal Air Force



   No. 141 Squadron was formed at Rochford Aerodrome on the 1st January 1918 as a home defence unit for London. It moved to Ireland in 1919, and disbanded in 1920.

On the 1st October 1939, No 141 re-formed as a Fighter Unit at Turnhouse with Gladiators and Blenheims, but in early 1940 it converted to Defiants. No 141's first operational patrol was June 1940. They moved to West Malling at the start of the Battle of Britain, but were swiftly withdrawn back to Scotland after their first disastrous engagement as the ineffectiveness of the Defiant against single-seat fighters became evident. In September 1940 a detachment returned to southern England for night patrols, the whole squadron moving there in October.

In April 1941, No. 141 returned to Scotland where it converted to Beaufighters for the defence of central Scotland and north-east England. In June 1942 it moved to Tangmere and in February 1943 to south-west England where it flew coastal patrols, intruder missions over north-west France amd air-sea rescue search missions. At the end of April 1943, it was transferred to Wittering where it was equipped with new experimental airborne enemy aircraft detection system. With this, it sent aircraft with Bomber Command's main force to attack enemy night-fighters and their bases. It also began flying intruder sorties over German airfields in support of Bomber Command. Mosquitoes began to replace the Beaufighters in October 1943 and in December the Squadron transferred Bomber Command in No. 100 Group.

Airfields occupied by No. 141 Squadron:

  • RAF Turnhouse, Midlothian, from 4th October 1939 (re-formed. Gladiator I)
  • RAF Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, from 19th October 1939 (Blenheim If)
  • RAF Prestwick, Ayrshire, from 13th February 1940
  • RAF Grangemouth, from 22nd February 1940 (Defiant I)
  • RAF Turnhouse, from 28th June 1940
  • RAF West Malling, Kent, from 11th July 1940
  • RAF Prestwick, from 25th July 1940
    • detachment at RAF Biggin Hill from 10th September - 22nd October 1940
  • RAF Drem, East Lothian, from 15th October 1940
  • RAF Dyce, Aberdeenshire, from 22nd October 1940
    • detachment RAF Gatwick, Surrey, from 22nd October - 3rd November 1940
  • RAF Turnhouse from 30th October 1940
  • RAF Gravesend, Kent, from 3rd November 1940
  • RAF Ayr, Ayrshire, from 29th April 1941 (Beaufighter If)
  • RAF Drem, from November 1941
  • RAF Acklington, Northumberland, from 29th January 1942
  • RAF Tangmere, Sussex, from 23rd June 1942
  • RAF Ford, Sussex, from 19th August 1942
  • RAF Predannack, Cornwall, from 18th February 1943
  • RAF Wittering, Northamptonshire, from 30th April 1943 (Beaufighter VIf, Mosquito II)
  • to Bomber Command, RAF West Raynham, Norfolk, 4th December 1943
  • RAF Little Snoring, Norfolk, from 3rd July 1945


 

4th October 1939 New fighter squadron formed in Scotland

4th Oct 1939 New Squadron

5th Oct 1939 Arrivals

6th Oct 1939 Arrivals

7th Oct 1939 Arrivals

8th Oct 1939 Arrivals

9th Oct 1939 Arrivals

10th Oct 1939 Training

11th Oct 1939 Training

19th October 1939 New Squadron moved and enlarged

1st December 1939 Crashed in training

 Training

13th February 1940 Gunnery traing

6th April 1940 Bad Weather

15th May 1940  Flying accident

28th June 1940 Operational

10th July 1940 Tactical advice rejected

11th July 1940 Reinforcements

19th July 1940 Battle of Britain

19th July 1940 Enemy Aircraft

24th July 1940 Three 141 Squadron Defiants lost

25th July 1940 Night fighter role

10th September 1940 Night fighter ops

17th September 1940 Bomber brought down

15th October 1940 Back on ops

22nd October 1940 Relocation

3rd November 1940 Move to the Thames estuary

29th April 1941  Move for new aircraft

10th November 1941 Back to Drem

11th December 1941 Aircraft accident at Ayr

29th January 1942 Relocated

15th February 1942  German bomber shot down

25th April 1942 Crashed into hillside

8th May 1942 Air accident

23rd June 1942 Return to the south east

8th September 1942 Beaufighter lost

25th October 1942 Beaufighter shot down

17th December 1942 Crashed on take off

17th January 1943 Shot down by friendly fire

10th February 1943 Missing over the Channel

18th February 1943 Move to Cornwall

26th March 1943 Low morale reported

10th April 1943 Shot down by flak

13th April 1943 Air-Sea Rescue

18th April 1943 Spitfire pilot rescued

20th April 1943 Sorties begun

26th April 1943 Killed in low flying incident

30th April 1943 New duties: new base

11th May 1943 Unexplained crash

12th May 1943 New device under test

14th June 1943 Enemy aircraft detection system operational

17th June 1943 Shot down into the North Sea

15th August 1943  Shot down

6th September 1943 Lost over the Channel

7th September 1943. Serrate system trials completed

16th September 1943 Abandoned over the North Sea

1st October 1943 Bomber protection

13th November 1943 Aircraft Lost

15th November 1943 Crash on take-off

18th November 1943 Crash

December 1943 Operations

3rd December 1943 New radar equipped fighter force approved

4th December 1943 Transfer to Bomber Command

23rd December 1943 Beaufighter lost on patrol over Belgium

30th January 1944 Disappointing performance

11th June 1944 Aircraft Lost

24th February, 1944 Crash

26th Mar 1944 141 Squadron Mosquito lost

27th April 1944 Serrate system jammed

28th Apr 1944 Aircraft Lost

16th May 1944 Mosquito lost on exercise

29th May 1944 Explosion in mid-air

June 1944 Luftwaffe responds to AI Radar development

6th June 1944 D-Day

9th June 1944 Flak Damage

17th June 1944  Mistaken for enemy intruder

22nd June 1944 Mosquito abandoned

25th June 1944 141 Squadron C/O Lost

28th June 1944 Two Mosquitos lost

6th Jul 1944 141 Squadron Mosquito lost

13th July 1944 Ju88 captured

21st July 1944 Mosquito abandoned

25th July 1944 Shot down

6th November 1944 Mosquito Lost

30th November 1944 Crash

15th January 1945 Successful sortie

16th January 1945 Successful sortie

8th Feb 1945 Two Mosquitos lost

19th April 1945 Shot down

25th April 1945 Hit by Flak


If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.



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Those known to have served with

No. 141 Squadron Royal Air Force

during the Second World War 1939-1945.

  • Blower Frederick Drummond. PO. (d.11th May 1943)
  • Boylson DFC & Bar William. (d.25th June 1944)
  • Hampshire Herbert Robin. F/Lt. (d.28th Jun 1944)
  • Snape Desmon Byrne. P/O. (d.24th February 1944)

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of No. 141 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources.



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Want to know more about No. 141 Squadron Royal Air Force?


There are:2089 items tagged No. 141 Squadron Royal Air Force available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.


F/Lt. Herbert Robin Hampshire 141 Squadron (d.28th Jun 1944)

My grandfather Herbert Hampshire was shot down over Belgium. Both he and his navigator were killed. They are buried in Wevelgem where there is a small Commonwealth War Graves section in the local cemetery.

Rupert Hampshire



P/O. Desmon Byrne Snape 141 Squadron (d.24th February 1944)

Pilot Officer Desmon Snape was the son of Claude Manning Snape and Doris Mary Snape. He was aged 20 and he is buried in the Loppersum General Cemetery, Groningen, Netherlands.

S Flynn



William Boylson DFC & Bar 7 Sqdn. (d.25th June 1944)

I am trying to find out more about my great uncle, William `Bill' Boylson, DFC & Bar. He was Australian but flew with the RAF. He was with 7 Squadron and also 141 Squadron. He took off with Squadron Leader G. H. Wilson, DSO/DFC, from Upwood at 23.25 in a Mosquito XX on a night bombing run, and was intercepted by a night fighter at approximately 01.30am on the night of 24/25th June 1944, northwest of Berlin. Does anyone know him or G. H. Wilson?

Michael Frank



PO. Frederick Drummond Blower 141 Squadron (d.11th May 1943)

Warrant Officer (658317) Frederick Drummond Blower was made Pilot Officer (146165) on 19th March 1943. He served in 141 Squadron. His death was registered in Peterborough, so it is likely that he died in the vicinity of his home airfield RAF Wittering. I do not know whether his death was due to enemy action or not.

Alan Clegg







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