Air War WW2 Portal

A brief history of
no.320 (Dutch)Squadron

When the Germans invaded the Netherlands, several seaplanes of the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service (MLD) were evacuated to Britain when their home bases became untentable.
The most useful of these were the modern Fokker T-VIIIW twin-engined patrol seaplanes which were flown to Pembroke Dock and, on June 1st 1940, formed into No.320 Squadron.

For several months the squadron flew patrols until shortage of spares forced the withdrawal of the Fokkers. The Fokkers were replaced by Ansons, supplemented in October 1940 by Hudsons.

On January 18th 1941, no. 321 squadron was absorbed, including planes and personnel. In March 1941 the squadron moved to Scotland for patrols and attacks on enemy shipping in the North Sea. On May 10th 1941 Hudsons made their first attack-flight on a land-based target, when they attacked the Luftwaffe airbase at Mandel (S. Norway).
The Ansons were retained until October 1941, for training purposes and in April 1942, the squadron moved to East Anglia. In March 1943 it was transferred to No.2 Group and re-equipped with Mitchells.

It began daylight raids on August 17th, attacking the Calais Marshalling Yards as part of Second TAF.
In October 1944 no.320 squadron moved to Melsbroek (B58), Belgium and continued raids until the end of the war, moving to Germany for the last week.
On August 2nd, 1945, No.320 squadron was transferred to the control of the Royal Netherlands Navy and ceased to be a RAF unit.
No.320 squadron was active as a P-3 Orion unit of the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service (MLD) to 2004.

 M. Bowyer       2 Group RAF, a complete history 1936-1945
                 (1974)
 W. Geneste      75 jaar Vliegende Marine; (1992)
 J.J. Halley     The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force; (1980)
 H. Hooftman     Van Farman tot Neptune pt.1 & 2; (1965)
 J.P. Kloos      320 Squadron RAF memorial 1940-1945; (1992)
 B. Robertson    British Military Aircraft Serials; (1967)
 G.J. Tonrij     De Nederlandse Mitchells; (1999)
 O.G. Ward a.o.  The Royal Netherlands Military Flying School 
                 1942-1944; (1982).
    
With thanks to mr. Bart Kossen for his additional information
especially for his Hudson-file of operations.