About This Unit
No.250 Squadron (RAF) is included on this site becasue it was one of many RAF Squadrons in which RAAF personnel served fought and often died during WW2. It was originally raised in WW1. The squadron was reformed in the Middle East in WW2 from K Flight at Aqir in Palestine on 1 April 1941, equipped with Curtis P-40 Tomahawk fighters. By the end April 1941 it had enough aircraft to begin operations. At first the squadron was used to fly defensive patrols over Palestine, but in May 1941 a detachment began to fly offensive sweeps over Syria, and in June the squadron moved to North Africa to take part in the fighting in the Western Desert.
In February 1942 the squadron was withdrawn for defensive duties, before it converted to the evolved P40 Kittyhawk fighter bomber. It returned to the desert in April, just in time to take part in the disastrous battle of Gazala, which saw the British pushed back to El Alamein. After this the squadron took part in the defensive battles on that line, and then the series of Allied victories, beginning at El Alamein, that eventually saw the Germans and Italians cleared out of North Africa.
Numbers of RAAF pilots served in this squadron, the most well-known beng Flying Officer Clive "Killer" Caldwell, the RAAF's most successful 'Ace' of WW2.
In July 1943 the squadron moved to Malta to support the invasion of Sicily, and a few days later moved into the new beachhead. In mid-Sept the squadron moved to Italy, and flew fighter-bomber missions to the end of the war, supporting the advancing armies. The squadron was disbanded in December 1946.