page_title: No. 502 Squadron RAF
section_title: In Coastal Command
hierarchical_section_title: No. 502 Squadron RAF / History / In Coastal Command
caption_attribution_description: English: The crew of a Whitley Mk VII of No. 502 Squadron on an anti-submarine patrol.
context_page_description: No. 502 Squadron was a Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadron that saw service in World War II. It was reformed in September 2013, and is the oldest of all the reserve squadrons, being formed in 1925.
context_section_description: On 28 November 1938, No. 502 (Ulster) Squadron became part of RAF Coastal Command, and was re-equipped with Avro Ansons in January 1939.  When war broke out, the squadron was used to fly patrols in the Atlantic off the Irish Coast.  From October 1940, the Squadron flew with Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys.  It was reported that on 30 November 1941 the squadron became the first Coastal Command unit to make a successful attack on a U-boat with air-to-surface radar, sinking U-Boat U-206 in the Bay of Biscay. This report has been countered with newer information that the U-206 was more probably sunk by the minefield, "Beech," laid there by the British after August 1940, and that the squadron's attack was actually on U-71, which escaped without loss.
  In January 1942 the squadron officially moved to both Norfolk (RAF Docking) and Cornwall, where a maintenance station was set up at RAF St Eval.  Until 1944 the squadron's main role was to carry anti-submarine patrols.  In January 1943 conversion to Halifax GR.Mk.IIs began, the first patrol by this type being flown on 12 March.  In addition to anti-submarine patrols, now also attacks on enemy shipping off the French coast were made.  In September 1944 with the French coast back in Allied hands, the squadron moved to Scotland at RAF Stornoway to carry out attacks on German shipping off the Norwegian coast, remaining there until the end of the war.  It was disbanded on 25 May 1945.
caption: The crew of a Whitley Mk VII of 502 Squadron on an anti-submarine patrol, August 1942
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