540 Squadron RAF June 1943

[Andy Fletcher]

Originally Posted by Stig Jarlevik

What I want to know is the exact date (if possible) they put their detachment (B-flight) at Benson.

Cheers
Stig

Hi Stig,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I've been away from a computer for a few days.

Prior to the disbandment of 1 PRU 'H' Flt operated Mossies from Leuchars and 'L' Flt from Benson. When 540 Sqn was formed on 19 Oct 42 'H' Flt 1 PRU became 'A' Flt 540 Sqn and 'L' Flt 1 PRU became 'B' Flt 540 Sqn as stated above. The name change made no difference to the day to day running of the Flights involved and for weeks after images taken by 540, 541, 542, 543 and 544 Sqns were still annotated as 1 PRU on the title strips of the photos by the photographic interpreters at the CIU.

The first Mosquito sorties carried out by 1 PRU were from Benson in Sep 41 before the Mosquito Flight moved to Wick in Oct 41. It then began operating from Leuchars in Nov 41. A second Mosquito Flight was formed at Benson in Feb 42 and continued to operate from there until the disbandment of 1 PRU on 19 Oct 42.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

[Stig Jarlevik]

Aha

They were already at Benson when the re-designation took place!

Thanks a lot Andy.

Do you know when B-flt departed for Gibraltar and if the complete flight went down there?

Cheers
Stig

[Andy Fletcher]

Stig,

The Mosquito detachment to Gibraltar departed from Benson on 01 Nov 42.

The detachment consisted of three crews, two pilots and three observers coming from 'B' Flt 540 Sqn and one pilot, the detachment commander, coming from 'A' Flt. The remainder of 'B' Flt continued to operate from Benson.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

[Stig Jarlevik]

Thanks again

Sigh, why make history easy? I guess I suspected all the time only a part of the flight went to Gibraltar....

Oh well, who am I to complain....

Cheers
Stig