page_title: No. 214 Squadron RAF
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: No. 214 Squadron RAF / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Vickers Valiant BK.1 XD816 wearing the fin markings of No. 214 Squadron RAF at RAF Abingdon in 1968
context_page_description: No. 214 Squadron is a former unit of the Royal Air Force.
context_section_description: By the outbreak of the Second World War it had re-equipped the Vickers Wellington which were replaced in 1942 with the larger Short Stirling, having moved to RAF Stradishall.
  Later, the Squadron moved to RAF Chedburgh. The memoirs of a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot recount his first operation with the Squadron, with Stirlings taxiing "ponderously" along a: "...perimeter track [which] ran within a hundred yards of Chedburgh's pub, before which the locals . . . had assembled for their nightly show." The target was Hanover.
  At a time when Stirling losses led to the aircraft being withdrawn from bombing Germany the squadron transferred to RAF Downham Market in December 1943. In January 1944, the squadron was converted to special operations, joining No. 100 Group RAF for electronic countermeasures in support of the main bombing operations.
  The squadron used the Boeing Fortress Mk II and Mk III and Stirlings. 
  They used the jamming system codenamed "Airborne Cigar" (ABC) to block German night fighter communications. German speaking radio operators would identify and jam the ground controllers broadcasts and also pose as ground controllers themselves with the intention of steering the night fighters away from the bomber streams. At least some of 214 Squadron's B-17s were equipped with 'Piperack' which countered the Germans' Lichtenstein SN-2 aerial intercept radar.
  After the war ended, the squadron reformed at RAF Aldergrove on 1 March 1948 and operated the Handley Page Halifax GR.6 until 18 October 1948.
caption: Vickers Valiant BK.1 XD816 wearing anti-nuclear flash finish and the markings of No. 214 Squadron on its fin.
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