No.263 Squadron was reformed on 2 October 1939 as a fighter squadron. Remarkably it was equipped with Gloster Gladiator biplanes, and took these aging aircraft with it to Norway in April 1940.
After three days operating from a frozen lake (Lake Lesjaskog) all of its aircraft were unfit for service and the squadron was forced to retreat to the UK to collect new aircraft.
The squadron returned to Norway in May, this time operating from bases further north.
It remained there until the Allied evacuation of Narvik, and then loaded its aircraft onto the carrier HMS
Glorious for the return trip.
All of these aircraft were lost with the carrier when she ran into the
Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau.
The squadron began to reform at Dren on 12 June 1940, and was to be the first squadron to operation the Westland Whirlwind (although the Hurricane was used for a period before the first Whirlwinds arrived).
In November 1940 the squadron took its Whirlwinds to the south-west to fly convoy protection patrols.
Offensive sweeps across France began in June 1941, but the aircraft were not equipped to act as fighter-bombers until June 1942.
The fighter-bomber Whirlwinds were used to attack German airfields and shipping, before being replaced with Hawker Typhoons in December 1943.
Offensive sweeps over France began on 1 February 1944, at first with bombs, but using rockets from July.
In July 1944 the squadron became part of No.136 Wing, 84 Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force.
This wing had not yet moved to France, and in early July it was joined at Hurn by the Typhoon squadrons of No.146 Wing.
In late June No.136 Wing was dissolved, and the squadron joined its new neighbours, accompanying them on their return to France.
Apart from a short break early in 1945 the squadron remained with the group until the end of the war.
There was always a danger of attacking friendly units by mistake, although the worst example to befall No.146 Wing came on 27 August when aircraft from Nos.263 and 266 squadrons attacked six ships southwest of Erretat, after first having checked with their controllers to make sure that they weren't friendly.
Sadly the small fleet was made up of four Allied minesweepers and two trawlers, and two of the minesweepers were sunk.
The fault for the incident was later traced to a failure to notify the RAF of a change in the course of the flotilla.
During the German retreat from Normandy Typhoons of No.146 Wing destroyed the last permanent bridge remaining over the Seine, trapping many of the survivors.
Over the winter of 1944-45 the wing was used to attack the remaining isolated German garrisons on the Scheldt estuary and Walcheren Island, left behind by the retreat of the main German armies.
At the start of October the squadron moved to Deurne airfield at Antwerp, where it found itself under fire from V2 rockets - five airmen were killed by one rocket on 25 October.
As the advance came to a halt in the winter of 1944-45 the Typhoon squadrons flew fewer sorties in direct support of the armies and instead began to operate further behind German lines.
Attacks on German headquarters continued, with No.146 Wing making an attack on the believed location of the German 15th Army in a park in the centre of Dordrecht on 24 October.
This attack killed two German generals, seventeen staff officers and 236 others, a massive blow to the efficiency of the 15th Army.
The wing's next targets were isolated garrisons around Arnhem and Nijmegen.
The squadron also took part in an attack on a 'human torpedo' factory at Utrecht, and an attempted attack on the Gestapo HQ at Amsterdam on 19 November, but this second attack was stopped by the weather.
Nos.193, 257, 263 and 266 Squadrons returned to the same target on 26 November, this time with more success, with some bombs going through the front door of the building!
The wing was largely unaffected by Operation
Bodenplatte, the Luftwaffe's attempt to destroy the Allied air forces on the ground on 1 January 1945.
Only three of the wing's aircraft were damaged, of which one came from No.266 Squadron.
Another headquarters target was attacked on 18 March in the build-up to the crossing of the Rhine.
This time General Blaskowitz's Army Group H was the target and 62 members of his staff were killed.
In April the wing used Mk 1 supply containers to drop supplies to SAS troops operating behind German lines.
The squadron was disbanded on 30 August 1945.
