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Motto: Beware! Beware!
Badge: In front of a trident, a rose. The trident is drawn from the armorial bearings of Liverpool from where most of the squadron's original personnel were recruited and the rose is the red rose of Lancashire, No 611 being the West Lancashire Squadron.
No 611 Squadron was formed on 10 February 1936 at Hendon as a day bomber unit of the Auxiliary Air Force and moved to Speke on 6 May to begin recruiting personnel from Merseyside. Its first Harts arrived in June and were replaced by Hinds in April 1938. On 1 January 1939, the squadron became a fighter unit, receiving Spitfires in May. After a period of defensive duties on the east coast, it became active in May 1940 over Dunkirk and was based in Lincolnshire during the Battle of Britain. In January 1941 the squadron began taking part in offensive sweeps over France, moving to Scotland in November 1941. It returned south in June 1942 for shipping reconnaissance, escort and defensive missions and after covering the invasion shipping, moved to south-west England for a short period. In August 1944 long-range escort missions began to be flown from East Anglia until No.611 moved to the Orkneys in October. After converting to Mustangs the squadron returned south and began escort duties on 25 March 1945 for the rest of the war. For three months after the end of the war, the squadron was based in northern Scotland, where it disbanded on 15 August 1945.
On 10 May 1946, No.611 was reformed at Speke and took up its station at Woodvale in July as a day fighter squadron with Spitfires. In July 1951 it moved to Hooton Park and flew Meteors until disbanded on 10 March 1957.
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Memorial Plaque to No 611 Squadron in Garston Parish Church. |
No 611 Squadron at Woodvale 1949 |
