Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The original grant of the squadron badge for ‘No. 269 G. R. Squadron’, hand-illuminated badge and motto, as painted by an artist of the College of Arms, dated April 1937, and signed by the Chester Herald and Inspector of Royal Air Force Badges, J. Heaton-Armstrong, and H.M. King George VI, mounted on card, colour a little worn, otherwise in good condition £100-£150

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, December 2009.

No. 269 Squadron was formed at Port Said in October 1918 as a seaplane unit, and flew on anti-submarine patrols prior to being disbanded in November 1919. Reformed at Bircham Newton in December 1936 for coastal reconnaissance duties, the Squadron was based at Montrose on the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, but transferred to Wick that October and converted to Hudsons. A year of anti-shipping operations having followed, No. 269 moved to Iceland, where it remained similarly employed until re-equipping for air-sea rescue operations back in the U.K. in early 1944. Embarked for the Azores a month or two later, the unit continued to fly A.S.R. sorties until the War’s end, latterly in Warwicks. Disbanded in March 1946, No. 269 was reformed at Gibraltar in January 1952 as a maritime reconnaissance unit, and was disbanded for a final time in May 1963.