| No. 200 Squadron RAF | |
|---|---|
200 Squadron crest. |
|
| Active | May 1941 - April 1945 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Air Force |
| Motto | In loco parentis Latin: "We act as guardians" |
| Equipment | Lockheed Hudson Consolidated Liberator |
No. 200 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operated during the Second World War.
It was formed in May 1941 from a section of No. 206 Squadron RAF, at Bircham Newton in Norfolk, operating Lockheed Hudson bombers. That June, it deployed to Gibraltar and then the Gambia, where it flew convoy protection missions out of Jeswang, moving to Yundum in 1943 and re-equipping with Liberator VI bombers.
In August 1943, Flying Officer Lloyd Allan Trigg was awarded the Victoria Cross for an action in which his aircraft sank U-468, a German submarine. Flying out of Banjul, the Liberator V he piloted depth-charged the submarine, taking heavy anti-aircraft fire in the process and crashing into the ocean with the loss of all crew. The only survivors of the engagement were seven German crewmen, who commended the bravery of the aircrew, making this one of the few Victoria Crosses to have been awarded on the recommendation of an enemy officer (and the sole VC to be awarded solely on enemy testimony).
Detachments of the squadron also flew from several other West African bases in this period.
In March 1944, the squadron redeployed to India; in April 1945 it was renumbered as No. 8 Squadron RAF and 200 Squadron was disbanded.