page_title: No. 41 Squadron RAF
section_title: Second World War, 1939–1945
hierarchical_section_title: No. 41 Squadron RAF / History / Second World War, 1939–1945
caption_attribution_description: Squadron Leader D.O. Finlay, the Commanding Officer of No. 41 Squadron RAF and former British Olympic hurdler, standing by his Supermarine Spitfire Mark IIA (P7666, ‘EB-Z)’ “Observer Corps”, at Hornchurch, Essex (UK).
context_page_description: No. 41 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is the RAF's Test and Evaluation Squadron, based at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire. Its official title is "41 TES". The squadron was formed in 1916 during First World War as part of the Royal Flying Corps and served on the Western Front as a ground attack and fighter squadron. Disbanded in 1919 as part of the post-war draw down, No. 41 Squadron was re-formed as an RAF squadron in 1923 and remained on home service until 1935 when it was deployed to Aden during the Abyssinian crisis.
  During the Second World War, the squadron flew Supermarine Spitfire fighters and saw action over Dunkirk and the during the Battle of Britain in the early years of the war. Combat operations were flown from Britain over German-occupied Europe during 1941–1944, before the squadron moved to the continent after the Normandy landings. During 1944–45, the squadron supported the Allied advance into Germany and it remained there until mid-1946 as part of the occupation force following the end of hostilities. In the post war years, the squadron was disbanded and re-formed several times, operating a variety of jet aircraft in the fighter, reconnaissance and interceptor roles.
context_section_description: Following the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, 41 Squadron spent the first several months on monotonous routine patrols in the north of England. At the end of May 1940, the squadron flew south to RAF Hornchurch to participate in the evacuation of Dunkirk. Twelve days later, they returned to RAF Catterick, claiming six Axis aircraft destroyed and one probable, but also left behind two pilots, the squadron's first pilot killed in action and their first lost as a prisoner of war. After resting for a few weeks, the squadron headed south again on 26 July 1940, to participate in the first phase of the Battle of Britain. In its two-week tour, the Squadron claimed 10 Axis aircraft destroyed, four probables and three damaged, for the loss of one pilot killed and a second wounded.
  Again, 41 Squadron returned north to Catterick for a few weeks rest, but returned to Hornchurch on 3 September 1940, where they remained until the end of February 1941. They were now in the thick of the Battle of Britain. The price was high, but so was the damage they inflicted on the Luftwaffe. On 5 September, the squadron experienced one of its blackest days. The Commanding Officer and OC, B Flight, were killed in action and three other pilots were shot down and two were wounded in action; one of these was hospitalised for six months.
  On 31 October 1940, the Battle of Britain was considered officially over. 49 pilots flew with the squadron between 10 July and 31 October 1940. Of these, 42 were British, 2 Canadian, 2 Irish and 2 New Zealanders. 10 were killed and 12 wounded in action (44% casualties). The squadron claimed over 100 victories from July 1940 to the end of that year.
  On 23 February 1941, the squadron returned to Catterick for a well-earned break. Only four pilots remained from the original 18 who landed in Hornchurch on 3 September 1940. However, in reality it is much worse: 16 pilots had been killed, five wounded and hospitalised (who did not return) and 15 otherwise posted away, in effect a 200% turnover since the unit's deployment to Hornchurch in early September. The squadron also now has its third Commanding Officer since then, and its fourth within ten months.
  Following five months rest in Catterick, during which the last Battle of Britain hardened pilots departed and new recruits joined from the British Commonwealth Air Training Program, the squadron headed south to Merston, Sussex, on 28 July 1941, to join the Tangmere Wing, where the wing leader was Douglas Bader. There followed an intensive period of offensive activity over France.
  On 12 February 1942, 41 Squadron took part in the attack on the German Kriegsmarine's Prinz Eugen, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau after they escaped from Brest and made a dash up the Channel to the safety of their home ports. During these actions, 41 Squadron claimed three German aircraft destroyed and one damaged, but lost one pilot who failed to return.
  The squadron also supported the ill-fated Canadian landings at Dieppe (Operation Jubilee) on 19 August 1942, completing three squadron-strength missions over the beaches. The pilots returned from the third without the Officer Commanding, Sqn Ldr Geoffrey Hyde, who was hit by Flak and killed; he was the squadron's only casualty that day.
  Tired, after a busy summer on the south coast fending off Me109s and FW190s fulfilling the Luftwaffe's "hit and run" strategy, the squadron was taken off operations until February 1943 and sent to Llanbedr, Wales, for an extended period of rest. This heralded the start of an intensive period of turnover in the unit's ranks as men were rested and fresh pilots brought in.
  In February 1943, the unit became the first of only two squadrons to receive the new Griffon-engine Spitfire Mark XII. Having rested, re-equipped and trained on the new aircraft, the squadron was sent back onto operations in April 1943, and claimed their first definitive victory in over ten months on 17 April. This was also the first by the RAF in the Mk. XII Spitfire.
  From late June 1943, large scale bomber escorts to targets in France, Belgium and th
caption: Sqn Ldr Donald O. Finlay, OC 41 Squadron, standing with Spitfire IIa, P7666, EB-Z, which was his personal mount. He claimed a destroyed Me109 on his first sortie on the day the aircraft was delivered, 23 November 1940.
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