No. 100 Squadron RAF

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No. 100 Squadron
100 Squadron crest
Active	February 1917
Role	Target Facilities
Garrison/HQ	RAF Leeming
Motto	"Sarang tebuan jangan dijolok" (Never stir up a hornet's nest)
Equipment	Hawk T1/T1A
Battle honours	Ypres 1917, Somme 1918, Independent Force and Germany 1918, Malaya 1941-1942, Fortress Europe 1943-1944 , Ruhr 1943-1945, Berlin 1943-1945, Normandy 1944
Insignia
Identification symbol	In front of two bones in saltire, a skull

No. 100 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is based at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, UK, and operates the Hawker-Siddeley Hawk.

1 History
2 Squadron flag
3 Aircraft operated
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] History

No. 100 was the first RAF squadron formed for night bombing. It was formed at Hingham in Norfolk in 1917 and then went to France. It was part of the Independent Force used for the strategic bombing of Germany with Handley Page 0/400 heavy bombers.

After the end of the war, the squadron remained on the continent for a year before transferring to RAF Baldonnel, near Dublin, where it re-equipped with Bristol Fighters. These were used for close air support, during the Irish War of Independence. Following the end of hostilities in 1922, the squadron returned to Britain and re-assumed the bomber role, this time with Vickers Vimys and DH9As.

By the end of the 1920s, No. 100 had become a torpedo bomber squadron. In 1931, it received Vickers Vildebeests and moved to Singapore.

Following the Japanese invasion of Malaya, in December 1941, the obsolete Vildebeests and their crews suffered catastrophic losses to Japanese fighters, and the surviving squadron members were evacuated to Australia. (In February 1942, No. 100 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force was formed at RAAF Richmond, near Sydney, from a nucleus of 100 Squadron RAF personnel. Despite this link, the squadron was an RAAF squadron throughout its existence.)

On 15 December 1942, 100 Squadron RAF proper was re-formed in the UK, at RAF Grimsby, near Waltham, as a heavy bomber squadron. No. 100 formed part of No, 1 Group, RAF Bomber Command, and as such, took part in the strategic bomber offensive from 1942 to 1945. For much of this period, the squadron operated from RAF Grimsby, and was operating the Avro Lancaster by the war's end

[edit] Squadron flag

The squadron flag which depicts a skull and crossbones was apparently stolen from a French House of ill repute in 1918. It was later emebellished with the squadron name and the motto Blood and Bones. The original flag disintegrated while being looked after by a Flight Lieutenant Trillwood during his time as a Japanese prisoner of war. The flag was originally red but was replaced by a black flag after the war. Following the 90th anniversary of the squadron, a replica of the original flag was presented to the squadron by Arthur White, a navigator with the squadron during the Second World War, in 2008.^[1]