About This Unit
No. 114 Squadron RAF
No. 114 Squadron RAF is included on this site becasue it was one of many RAF Squadrons to which RAAF personnel were posted in WW2 and in which they served fought and often died, in larger numbers than any other Australian service cohort in WW2. Aircrew were trained under the Empire Air Training Scheme at locations across the British Empire as it still was then.
No. 114 Squadron was a light bomber unit and operated across a number of theatres. It started its second incarnation in December 1936 (it was first raised in 1917 and remianed in service until 1920), and in March 1937 became the first RAF squadron to receive the new high-speed Bristol Blenheim light bomber.
While the Blenheim was state of the art in 1937, by 1943, when 114 Squadron re-equipped, the Blenheim was almost obsolete.
In December 1939 No. 114 took its Blenheim IVs to France. Like most RAF light bomber squadrons in the Battle of France, No. 114 lost most of its aircraft during the German invasion, and escaped back to Britain in poor shape at the end of May.
Once the squadron received new aircraft and personnel, and regained operational status, it began a series of attacks on the Channel ports w, to disrupt the anticipated Nazi invasion of Britain, which lasted until March 1941. The squadron was then transferred to Coastal Command, flying anti-shipping strikes until July, when it was returned to Bomber Command.
In November 1942 the squadron moved to Algeria to take part in the invasion of North Africa. It was to remain in the Mediterranean until the end of the war.
While in North Africa, in 1943, the Blenheims were finally replaced by Douglas A20 Havoc (Boston in RAF service) bombers, a much more capable aircraft. In August 1943 the Squadron moved to support the Allied advance through Sicily. Then a year later it moved to the Italian mainland.
Its role was primarily tactical, attacking German communications and airfields behind the front line.
It was disbanded in Italy in September 1945.
Compiled Apr 2020 from sources including Wikipedia and http://www.historyofwar.org/