211 Badge
No. 211 Squadron RAF

211 Squadron RAF
This site is moving to
http://members.aardvark.net.au/clardo/
Please update your Bookmarks, Favourites or Links

The site at http://www.users.bigpond.com/clardo/ will close from 17 Sep 2003

Toujours à propos

A history of No. 211 (Bomber) Squadron RAF in World War II, as recorded at the time and as recalled today by surviving members. This website was launched on Easter Sunday 2001, the 60th anniversary of the Squadron’s most significant operation in Greece.

In 1996 I set out to preserve my father’s manuscript notes of his service with 211 Squadron from 1940 to 1942. As the puzzles revealed by those notes and by the available books led to more and more research, with his assistance the simple copy became a little book in 1998. Here that little book’s content has been revised and greatly extended.

The story now covers the whole World War II period from the re-forming of the Squadron in 1937 to its final disbandment in 1946. Background and unit history are covered in some detail, with extensive notes on the Hawker Audax and Hind, the Bristol Blenheim, the Middle East and Far East campaigns, and the narratives and photographs not only of my father but of many other members of the Squadron, both RAF and RAAF.

In the matter of recording the Squadron's story there are very differing views on what might be the right thing to be done. Until recently, the history of 211 Squadron in World War II had been told rarely or obscurely, whether in books or on the Web. Putting some of the story on record has meant dealing with numerous requests for information, most poignantly sincere but many frankly thoughtless. These factors led in the end to this website.

As a respectful archive from those who wished to record, for all who wish to seek for themselves, the site does not aim to romanticise or glorify war. Many years have now passed since young men went to fight against awful things. Their service was not in vain, despite the waste of war, yet none of those who returned were untouched by what they had survived. As for those who went but were never to return:

"They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the Sun and in the morning,
We will remember them."
Lest we forget

The Squadron badge
"An azure lion disjointed and ducally crowned”.
Prepared by Chester Herald as Inspector of RAF Badges and approved by HM King George VI in July 1938, the badge recalls the origins of 211 Squadron in the latter part of World War I. Taken from the coat of arms of the Belgian city of Bruges (Brugge), seat of the Dukes of Burgundy and a port since mediaeval times, the blue lion of Flanders wears the gold crown of a Duke but appears with his paws and head severed—heraldic acknowledgement of the squadron's success in its main task, the destruction of Bruges docks. The lion’s bloodied (gutty) paws suggest that 211 didn’t have it all their own way.

The Squadron motto
Toujours à propos
Generally taken to mean Always at the right moment, but equally might be understood as Always to the purpose.

The Ode
For the Fallen (Laurence Binyon 1869-1943) was published in The Times in 1914. The fourth stanza quoted here was recited at the dedication of the London Cenotaph in 1919. Among English-speaking peoples, it has become part of the custom and usage of Armistice Day and like solemnities, where the young and the old gather to give thanks and to reflect. In thinking about its Edwardian tone it is well to remember that Binyon wrote of what he knew, having served as a stretcher bearer in the trenches of the Western Front.

Acknowledgements
The valuable research facilities of the National Archives of Australia, the National Library of Australia and the Australian War Memorial Research Centre and the expert, kindly and cheerful assistance of their highly professional staff made compiling the original book possible and very absorbing. Other assistance came from Tim Hughes, the UK Public Records Office and the Imperial War Museum.

I came to know the story of the 211s in the Far East through the indefatigable Hugh Campbell. I am proud too, to have made acquaintance with the redoubtable Bill Baird and with Ron McKnight both of 211 Squadron. Adrian Fryatt, son of another 211 and a tireless correspondent, cheerfully wheedled stories and photographs from a number of the boys. Others still (or their immediate family) have contacted me directly and with equal generosity. Without their wonderful pictures and stories, none of these later developments would have occurred. Along the way I have made contact with many others, too numerous to mention but whom I also thank.

Copyright
© DR Clark and others 1998-2003. The content of this site is copyright and requests for permission to reproduce any of the content should be directed to me in the first instance, at the
Enquiries address. Private non-profit users may expect prompt approval.

Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Britannic Majesty’s Stationery Office and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland. The 211 Squadron badge is British Crown Copyright/MoD, reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Britannic Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Don Clark
Latham, Australian Capital Territory
July 2003

211 Sqdn in PANDORA

Preserved in PANDORA, the Internet archive programme of the National Library of Australia. Archiving schedule: Annually, Aug 6

 

Site

Created 15 Apr 2001

Updated 27 Jul 2003

 

Page

Created 31 Dec 2001

Updated 18 June 2003

Next page