Royal Naval Air Service 23 March 1915 – 15 October 1915 31 December 1916 – 1 April 1918 Royal Air Force 1 - April 1918 - 31 December 1919 1 February 1929 – 30 June 1945 1 August 1947 – 20 February 1953 1 January 1954 – 1 April 1971 1 April 1971 – 1 May 1972[1][2]
Home Waters, 1915 Western Front, 1917–18 Atlantic, 1940–45 Norway, 1940 Arctic, 1941[6]
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry
On water barry wavy, a mooring buoy, thereon a cormorant displayed[3] The badge is based upon a photograph made by Aircraftsman T.E. Shaw (Lawrence of Arabia)[5][7]
Squadron Codes
RF (Apr 1939 – Sep 1939)[8] KG (Sep 1939 – 1943)[9] T (Jan 1954 – 1956)[10]
No. 4 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service was formed on 25 March 1915 at Dover, Kent, from the former RNAS Defence Flight.[11][12] In August 1915 the squadron moved to Eastchurch where it was re-designated as No. 4 Wing RNAS.[11] The squadron was reformed on 31 December 1916 at Coudekerque just outside Dunkirk, France to operate the Sopwith 1½ Strutter, a multirole biplane.[11] In March 1917 the squadron re-equipped with the Sopwith Pup biplane fighter aircraft, before it moved to Bray-Dunes, not far away on the French-side of the Franco-Belgian border.[11] In June 1917 the squadron re-equipped again with the Sopwith Camel, a biplane fighter aircraft and Sopwith Pup successor.[11]
In January 1918 the squadron made a temporary move to Walmer in Kent to rest and refit before returning to the front at Bray-Dunes in March 1918.[11][12] On the formation of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918 the squadron was re-designated No. 204 Squadron.[11] The squadron moved around some of the aerodromes around Dunkirk before settling at Téteghem in May 1918.[11] In October 1918 the squadron moved forward to Heule in Flanders until the end of the First World War.[11] In February 1919 its personal returned to RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, England, before being disbanded in December 1919.[11]
Reformation
The squadron was reformed on 1 February 1929, when the coastal reconnaissance flight based at RAF Cattewater (later RAF Mount Batten), Plymouth, equipped with five Supermarine Southamptonflying boats, was renumbered. It carried out a regular routine of training, interspersed with a series of formation cruises, including one to the Mediterranean in 1932 and to the Baltic the next year.[4][13]
It re-equipped with Supermarine Scapa, a general reconnaissance flying boat, to replace the elderly Southampton flying boats from August 1935, and in September, it transferred to Aboukir, in Egypt, as part of the United Kingdom's response to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, remaining there until August 1936, when the Squadron returned to Plymouth. It again re-equipped, this time with Saro London flying boats, from October that year. The squadron continued its routine of training and formation cruises, visiting Gibraltar in August 1937, and visiting Australia to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Sydney in 1938, being away from Britain from December 1937 to April 1938.[4][14]
The squadron lost 19 Short Sunderland flying boats during the Second World War. No Axis submarines were sunk by the squadron, although it did claim at least one LuftwaffeJunkers Ju 88, a multi-role combat aircraft, shot down.[18]
The squadron was reformed once more on 1 January 1954 at RAF Ballykelly, in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland and was equipped with Avro Shackleton, a long-range maritime patrol aircraft.
In 1965, Ian Smith's Rhodesian minority white government made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, leading to United Nationssanctions against what was up until then a British colony. One of the major thrusts of this action was to try and deprive the country of oil. Being land-locked, Rhodesia relied on a pipeline through Mozambique from the port of Beira. Up until 1972, the sanctions were applied by the Royal Navy working with the RAF, which undertook reconnaissance flights of the Beira Straits from its base in Madagascar. The RAF was located at the airfield close to the port of Majunga, on the north-west coast of Madagascar. No. 204 Squadron was the unit tasked with this responsibility, just prior to the evacuation and closure of the base in March 1972. It operated a detachment of two Avro Shackleton Mk.2. The last flight took place on 17 March 1972. The squadron was disbanded on 28 April 1972.
Halley, James J. Famous Maritime Squadrons of the RAF, Volume 1. Windsor, Berkshire, UK: Hylton Lacy Publishers Ltd., 1973. ISBN0-85064-101-2.
Halley, James J. The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918–1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. ISBN0-85130-164-9.
Jefford, C.G. RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing, 2001. ISBN1-84037-141-2.
Jefford, C.G. RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912, first edition 1998, Airlife Publishing, UK, ISBN1-85310-053-6.
Rawlings, John D.R. Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982. ISBN0-7106-0187-5.
Rawlings, John D.R. Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1969 (new edition 1976, reprinted 1978). ISBN0-354-01028-X.
Sturtivant, Ray and Gordon Page. Royal Navy Aircraft Serials and Units 1911–1919. Tonbridge: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1992. ISBN0-85130-191-6.