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No.272 Sqn RAF

Name : No.272 Sqn RAF Founded : 25th July 1918 Disbanded : 30th April 1945 Country : UK Fate : Disbanded 30th April 1945 More Details : On, on! Known Code Letters : , TJ, XK,

Known Service Details :
Pilot or Aircrew	Rank	Start of Service	End of Service	Known Dates	Aircraft	Airframes	Notes
Eric Henry Adams		19th November 1940	unknown	01st December 1940			first operational sortie with 272 on 1st December. Later in the month Adams was posted to 252 Squadron, recently reformed at Aldergrove
A W Fletcher	Squadron Leader	unknown	unknown	28th July 1941	Beaufighter	T3317
Peter Tipple	Flight Lieutenant	unknown	unknown		Beaufighter

Pilots and Aircrew for : No.272 Sqn RAF
A list of all aircrew from our database who are associated with this squadron. A profile page is available by clicking their name.
Name	Info
Adams, Eric Henry Click the name above to see a profile of Adams, Eric Henry    Died : 0 / 0 / 2003	Adams, Eric Henry completed his training on 23rd March 1940 and converted to Blenheims at the Coastal Command Landplane Pilots Pool at Silloth. joining236 Squadron at Filton in June 1940 serving with Fighter Command during the opening months of the Battle of Britain before returning to Coastal Command. on 19th November 1940, he was posted to Aldergrove,where it joined a flight of 235 Squadron to reform 272 Squadron. His first operational sortie with 272 on 1st December. Later in the month Adams was posted to 252 Squadron at Aldergrove. Early in 1941 Adams was in hospitalised for four months. and was taken off operational flying and in September 1941 went to Henlow as a test pilot for newly-assembled Hurricanes equipped with Packard-built Merlin engines. In mid-1943 Adams did a flying control course and was afterwards posted to N'dola, Northern Rhodesia, a staging post on the South Africa/Egypt route. He returned to the UK in October 1944 and became an aircraft controller at RAF Carnaby. Adams was released in April 1946 as a Warrant Officer.
Fletcher, A W Click the name above to see a profile of Fletcher, A W	Fletcher, A W On 28th July 1941, he flew Beaufighter T3317 of No.272 Sqn on an attack on Borizo airfied, Sicily, claiming four SM79 aircraft and two CR42s.
Tipple, Peter Click the name above to see a profile of Tipple, Peter	Tipple, Peter Qualified as a Pilot and joined 272 Coastal Command Squadron on Beaufighters with whom he served on 68 ops over Malta, North Africa and the Mediterranean.

Aircraft for : No.272 Sqn RAF
A list of all aircraft associated with No.272 Sqn RAF. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name.
Aircraft	Info
Beaufighter Click the name above to see prints featuring Beaufighter aircraft. Manufacturer : Bristol Production Began : 1940 Number Built : 5564	Beaufighter BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER The Bristol Beaufighter was a Torpedo Bomber and had a crew of two. with a maximum speed of 330mph and a ceiling of 29,000 feet. maximum normal range of 1500 miles but could be extended to 1750 miles. The Bristol Beaufighter carried four 20mm cannon in the belly of the aircraft and upto six .303in browning machine guns in the wings. it could also carry eight 3 -inch rockets, 1605 lb torpedo or a bomb load of 1,000 lb. The Bristol Beaufighter first flew in July 1939 and with some modifications entered service with the Royal Air Force in July 1940. In the winter of 1940 - 1941 the Beaufighter was used as a night fighter. and in March 1941 the aircraft was used at Coastal Command as a long range strike aircraft. and in 1941, the Beaufighter arrived in North Africa and used as a forward ground attack aircraft. The Bristol Beaufighter was used also in India, Burma and Australia. A total of 5,564 Beaufighters were built until production in Britain finished in 1945, but a further 364 were built in Australia for the Australian Air Force
Blenheim Click the name above to see prints featuring Blenheim aircraft. Manufacturer : Bristol Production Began : 1935 Retired : 1956 Number Built : 4422	Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim, the most plentiful aircraft in the RAFs inventory when WWII began, was designed by Frank Barnwell, and when first flown in 1936 was unique with its all metal monoplane design incorporating a retractable undercarriage, wing flaps, metal props, and supercharged engines. A typical bomb load for a Blenheim was 1,000 pounds. In the early stages of the war Blenheims were used on many daylight bombing missions. On the day that war was declared on Germany, a Blenheim piloted by Flying Officer Andrew McPherson was the first British aircraft to cross the German coast and the following morning 15 Blenheims from three squadrons set off on one of the first bombing missions The Blenheim units operated throughout the battle, often taking heavy casualties, although they were never accorded the publicity of the fighter squadrons. The Blenheim units raided German occupied airfields throughout July to December 1940, both during daylight hours and at night. Although most of these raids were unproductive, there were some successes; on 1 August five out of 12 Blenheims sent to attack Haamstede and Evere (Brussels) were able to bomb, destroying or heavily damaging three Bf 109s of II./JG 27 and apparently killing a Staffelkapitän identified as Hauptmann Albrecht von Ankum-Frank. Two other 109s were claimed by Blenheim gunners. Another successful raid on Haamstede was made by a single Blenheim on 7 August which destroyed one 109 of 4./JG 54, heavily damaged another and caused lighter damage to four more. There were also some missions which produced an almost 100% casualty rate amongst the Blenheims. One such operation was mounted on 13 August 1940 against a Luftwaffe airfield near Aalborg in north-western Denmark by 12 aircraft of 82 Squadron. One Blenheim returned early (the pilot was later charged and due to appear before a court martial, but was killed on another operation); the other 11, which reached Denmark, were shot down, five by flak and six by Bf 109s. Blenheim-equipped units had been formed to carry out long-range strategic reconnaissance missions over Germany and German-occupied territories, as well as bombing operations. In this role, the Blenheims once again proved to be too slow and vulnerable against Luftwaffe fighters and they took constant casualties While great heroism was displayed by the air crews, tremendous losses were sustained during these missions. The Blenhiem was easy pickings at altitude for German Bf-109 fighters who quickly learned to attack from below. To protect the vulnerable bellies of the Blenheims many missions were shifted to low altitude, but this increased the aircrafts exposure to anti-aircraft fire. In the German night-bombing raid on London on 18 June 1940, Blenheims accounted for five German bombers, thus proving that they were better-suited for night fighting. In July, No. 600 Squadron, by then based at RAF Manston, had some of its Mk IFs equipped with AI Mk III radar. With this radar equipment, a Blenheim from the Fighter Interception Unit (FIU) at RAF Ford achieved the first success on the night of 2–3 July 1940, accounting for a Dornier Do 17 bomber. More successes came, and before long the Blenheim proved itself invaluable as a night fighter. One Blenheim pilot, Squadron Leader Arthur Scarf, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for an attack on Singora, Thailand, on 9 December 1941. Another bomber of No. 60 Squadron RAF was credited with shooting down Lt Col Tateo Katō's Nakajima Ki-43 fighter and badly damaging two others in a single engagement on 22 May 1942, over the Bay of Bengal. Katō's death was a severe blow to the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force.