No. 21 Squadron RAF

No. 21 Squadron RAF
23 Squadron badge
Active23 July 1915 – October 1919
December 1935 – November 1947
21 September 1953 – 30 June 1957
1 October 1958 – 15 January 1959
1 May 1959 – 15 September 1967
3 February 1969 – 31 March 1979
CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Branch Royal Air Force
Motto(s)Latin: Viribus vincimus (By strength we conquer)[1]
Insignia
Squadron badge heraldryA hand erased at the wrist, holding a dumb-bell. The dumb-bell was used as a badge by the squadron in 1917 and symbolises strength.

No. 21 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed in 1915 and was disbanded for the last time in 1979.

The squadron is famous for Operation Jericho on 18 February 1944, when the crews of Mosquitoes breached the walls of a Gestapo prison at Amiens, France, allowing members of the French Resistance to escape.

  1. ^ Pine 1983, p. 255