| No. 217 Squadron RAF | |
|---|---|
 Bristol Beauforts of No. 217 Squadron off Cornwall, 1942 | |
| Active | 1918-1919, 1937-1945, 1952-1957, 1958-1959 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Air Force |
| Role | Maritime patrol, anti-shipping, strike, reconnaissance |
| Part of | RAF Coastal Command |
| Motto(s) | Woe to the unwary[1] |
| Engagements | World War I World War II Operation Grapple |
| Insignia | |
| Squadron badge heraldry | A demi-shark, erased |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Attack | Airco DH.4, Lockheed Hudson, Bristol Beaufort, Bristol Beaufighter TF.X |
| Utility helicopter | Westland Whirlwind HAR.2 |
| Patrol | Avro Anson, Lockheed Hudson |
| Reconnaissance | Lockheed Neptune MR.1 |
No. 217 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the RAF. It was formed and disbanded four times between 1 April 1918 and 13 November 1959. In World War I it served in a strike role against enemy bases and airfields in Belgium. In World War II as part of RAF Coastal Command it served first in a maritime patrol role along the Western Approaches and later in an anti-shipping role in the English Channel. Ordered to the Far East in 1942, the squadron was retained for two months in Malta in an anti-shipping role, protecting Allied convoys, before moving to Ceylon to defend the approaches to India, serving in an anti-submarine and anti-shipping role. It was equipped and training for a strike role, when the war ended. In the postwar period, it served for five years in a maritime reconnaissance role, and then briefly in a support role for Operation Grapple, the British hydrogen bomb tests on Christmas Island.
- ^ See Pine (1983), p. 266