page_title: No. 205 Squadron RAF
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: No. 205 Squadron RAF / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Consolidated Catalina Mark Is of No. 205 Squadron RAF undergoing servicing in their hangar at Seletar, Singapore, in mid-1941. One of the Squadron's Short Singapore Mark IIIs bi-plane flying boats, which was the type the Catalina was replacing, can be seen in the right background.
context_page_description: No. 205 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit formed on 1 April 1918. Prior to this it had existed as No. 5 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service. In 1929, it became the first RAF squadron to be permanently based in Singapore, taking as its motto Pertama di Malaya. No. 205 Squadron operated during World War II and the Cold War before disbanding on 31 October 1971.
context_section_description: At the outbreak of World War II, No. 205 Squadron flew patrols over the approaches to Singapore and the Indian Ocean, employing bases in Ceylon and the Nicobar Islands as outstations. It was re-equipped with PBY Catalinas in 1941 before being withdrawn from Singapore and relocated to Java, leaving three aircraft at Selatar Air Base. 
  One of 205 Squadron's Catalinas became the first Anglo-American casualties of the war with Japan. According to Japanese reports found after the war Flying Officer Edwin Beddell's Catalina had spotted the Japanese invasion fleet approaching Northern Malaya when he was attacked by a catapult-launched float plane which must have damaged his radio. A short time later Beddell's plane was attacked by five Ki-27 which shot him down. The Japanese report states the Catalina exploded 400 feet above the sea. When Japanese forces invaded Java the squadron retired to the south of the island and then to Australia, where it disbanded on 31 March 1942.
  Reformed in Ceylon on 23 July 1942, the squadron's Catalinas flew anti-submarine and air-sea rescue patrols out of Koggala for the remainder of the war.
caption: Consolidated Catalina Mark Is of No. 205 Squadron RAF undergoing servicing in their hangar at RAF Seletar, Singapore. One of the Squadron's Short Singapore Mark IIIs biplane flying boats can be seen in the right background.
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