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Aircraft - Locations - Group and Duty - Books
No.133 Squadron was the third 'Eagle' Squadron, RAF fighter squadrons manned by American volunteers. The squadron was formed at Coltishall on 1 August 1941, and was originally equipped with the Hawker Hurricane. Hurricane operations began at the end of September, but were short-lived. The first Spitfire operations were flown in October from Fowlmere, before the squadron moved to Eglington, Northern Ireland.
The squadron returned to Lincolnshire at the end of 1941, and flew its first sweep across occupied France in April 1942. The squadron moved south to Biggin Hill in May, from where it flew a mix of fighter sweeps and bomber escort missions, taking part in the Dieppe operation in August. One of the escort missions ended in disaster, when on 26 September 1942 ten Spitfire Mk.IXs were lost when they ran out of fuel while escorting B-17s over France, giving the Germans some intact versions of the latest model of Spitfire.
During 1942 a great deal of pressure had been put on the British to hand the Eagle squadrons over to US control, and on 29 September all three were transferred to VIII Fighter Command, where they formed the 4th Fighter Group. No.133 Squadron became the 336th Fighter Squadron.
Aircraft
August-December 1941: Hawker Hurricane IIB
October 1941-January 1942: Supermarine Spitfire IIA
January-March 1942: Supermarine Spitfire VA
February-September 1942: Supermarine Spitfire VB
September 1942: Supermarine Spitfire IXC
Location
August 1941: Coltishall
August-October 1941: Duxford
October 1941: Fowlmere
October 1941-January 1942: Eglinton
January-May 1942: Kirton-in-Lindsey
May-July 1942: Biggin Hill
July-August 1942: Gravesend
August 1942: Martlesham Heath
August-September 1942: Biggin Hill
September 1942: Great Sampford
Squadron Codes: MD
Duty
1941-1942: Fighter Command
Spitfire: Flying Legend - 60th Anniversary 1936-96, John M. Dibbs.
A beautifully illustrated book focusing on surviving flyable Spitfires, with some very impressive modern colour photos backed up by a good selection of archival pictures and a good selection of relevant quotes from wartime Spitfire pilots
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