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Aircraft - Locations - Group and Duty - Books
No.518 Squadron was a meteorological unit of Coastal Command, formed in July 1943 at Stornoway to fly weather recording flights over the mid-Atlantic. The squadron began operations on 15 September 1943, ten days before moving to Tiree, where it remained for the rest of the war. The Halifax V was not the ideal aircraft for this role - No.518 Squadron's route involved flying 700 nautical miles west from Tiree, a route that required setting the engines to a high-boost low revolutions setting, which maximised range but increased wear on the Merlin engines. Although the squadron only lost two days flying to weather in 1944, it did lose a number of aircraft, many probably after engine failures.
Aircraft
July 1943 to August 1945: Handley Page Halifax Met.Mk V
March 1945-October 1945: Handley Page Halifax Met.Mk III
September 1945-October 1946: Handley Page Halifax GR.Mk VI
Location
9 July 1943 to 25 September 1943: Stornoway
25 September 1943 to 18 September 1945: Tiree
18 September 1945 to 1 October 1946: Aldergrove
Squadron Codes: Y3
Duty
By July 1943: Meteorological Squadron with 18 Group, Coastal Command
October 1946: Renumbered as No. 202 Squadron
RAF Coastal Command in Action, 1939-45, Roy C. Nesbit. This is an excellent photographic history of Coastal Command during the Second World War. The book is split into six chapters, one for each year of the war. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction to the events of the year, and the aircraft that equipped the command before moving on to the photos. Each chapter contains a mix of pictures of the aircraft used by the command and pictures taken by the command. [see more]
Halifax Squadrons of World War II , Jon Lake. This is a very good book on the combat record of the Handley Page Halifax. It covers much more than just its role as a front line bomber, with chapters on the Halifax with Coastal Command, the Pathfinders and SOE, amongst others. [see more]
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