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No 230 Squadron Royal Air Force (Kita chari jauh - we search far)

Category: Transport

The story of No 230 Squadron Royal Air Force goes back to August 1918 when it was formed at Felixstowe, Suffolk, and from where it was tasked with patrolling the North Sea using its Curtiss and Felixstowe flying boats. In 1938, after three years with Short Singapore aircraft, the majestic Short Sunderland flying boat arrived and No 230 Squadron became the first squadron operational on the type, seeing service across the globe in places as diverse as Pembroke Dock and Alexandria, the Indian Ocean and the Arctic. The association with ‘boats’ continued until 1957 when the Squadron was disbanded.

On re-formation in 1958 No 230 Squadron began flying the Scottish Aviation Pioneer and in 1962 made a further change, to rotary-wing flying, on Westland Whirlwind helicopters. In 2004 No 230 Squadron is based at Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, its home for the last eleven years, flying the Puma HC1 helicopter in support of the security forces.

In addition to recording the aircraft flown this book is intended to cover other aspects of the Squadron’s history including the numerous people who have served and the many and varied places it has operated.

Includes forewords by His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester and the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP.

The Authors

Guy Warner has been a regular contributor to Ulster Airmail, the journal of the Ulster Aviation Society, for eight years and has also written for Aircraft Illustrated, Air Enthusiast, Air Pictorial, Aviation Ireland and Northern Ireland Travel News. He is also co-author of Colourpoint’s In the Heart of the City: The History of Belfast’s City Airport, 1938-1998, Flying from Malone: Belfast’s First Civil Aerodrome, Belfast International Airport: Aviation at Aldergrove since 1938 and Army Aviation in Ulster. Guy is a teacher at a Belfast school, is married with two daughters and lives in Co Antrim.

 ©2008 Colourpoint Books