History
No. 341 Squadron was formed on 15 January 1943 at RAF Turnhouse, with personnel from the Free French Air Forces (Forces aériennes françaises libres), in particular the personnel of the Free French Flight (also known as Groupe de Chasse n°1 « Alsace » and before as Première Escadrille de Chasse (E.F.C. 1)), which had been operating in the Western Desert alongside various RAF fighter squadrons such as No. 33 and No. 73 squadron from 1940, and had earned an Ordre de la Libération on 21 June 1941. The unit was equipped with Spitfire VBs, its first commander being Squadron Leader René Mouchotte. The squadron moved to RAF Biggin Hill on 21 March 1943 and, re-equipped with Supermarine Spitfire L.F Mk.IXs, began to take part in sweeps over France. The squadron moved to Cornwall on 11 October 1943 for similar operations over Brittany, returning to RAF Merston on 14 April 1944 to join No. 145 Wing. Pierre Clostermann experienced his first aerial combat as a wingman of Sqn Ldr Mouchotte.
After covering the Allied landings in France in June 1944, No. 341 Squadron moved from Tangmere to Sommervieu (B8 airfield) in Normandy on 19 August and arrived in Belgium in September. Armed reconnaissance sweeps over Germany were directed mainly at enemy communications for the rest of the war, apart from a month at Turnhouse during February 1945 to equip with the Spitfire Mark XVI. On 27 November 1945, the squadron gave up its aircraft on transfer to Friedrichshafen and on the following day passed to the control of the Armée de l'Air. On the 28 May 1945 the squadron was presented with the Ordre de la Libération (Cross of Liberation).
During the war the Squadron flew 5,469 operations, claiming some 30 aircraft shot down, and losing 21 pilots killed and 6 taken prisoner.
Read more about this topic: No. 341 Squadron RAF
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Spain is an overflow of sombreness ... a strong and threatening tide of history meets you at the frontier.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“English history is all about men liking their fathers, and American history is all about men hating their fathers and trying to burn down everything they ever did.”
—Malcolm Bradbury (b. 1932)
“In history as in human life, regret does not bring back a lost moment and a thousand years will not recover something lost in a single hour.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)