No. 542 Squadron RAF
Active	19 October 1942 – 27 August 1945 15 May 1954 – 1 Oct 1955 1 Nov 1955 – 1 Oct 1958
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Motto	Above all
Insignia
Squadron Badge	A Globe surrounded by stars

No. 542 Squadron RAF was aRoyal Air Force Squadron formed as a photographicreconnaissance squadron inWorld War II that reformed in the post war period.

The squadron formed atRAF Benson on 19 October 1942 from A and E Flights of thePhotographic Reconnaissance Unit. For a period, it used nearbyRAF Mount Farm as its operational base. The squadron was equipped with theSpitfires with to fly photo reconnaissance missions over Europe. Originally equipped with the Spitfire IV, it received the Mark VII in November, the Mk IX in February 1943, the Mk XI in April, the Mk XIX in May 1944, and the Mk X in July. After the end of the war, No. 542 Squadron was disbanded on 27 August 1945.^[1]

The squadron reformed atRAF Wyton on 17 May 1954 with photo reconnaissanceCanberras, the first unit fully equipped with the Canberra,^[2] but was disbanded again on 1 October 1955. During this first Canberra period the squadron detached four PR 7s toRAF Changi in May 1955 to conduct photo reconnaissance during theMalayan Emergency; the detachment remained there for three months before it rotated out.^[3] It was reformed at Wyton the following month from No. 1323 Flight, moving toWestonzoyland on 15 December to prepare for its detachment to Australia. AtLaverton it carried out survey and sampling flights during theOperation Mosaicnuclear weapons tests in Australia between 1956 and 1957.^[4] On 31 March 1957 it returned toRAF Hemswell in the UK before being renumbered toNo. 21 Squadron on 1 October 1958.^[1]

^[5]

• Brookes, Andrew (2014).RAF Canberra Units of the Cold War. Combat Aircraft 105. Oxford: Osprey.ISBN 978-1-78200-411-0.
• Halley, James J. (1988).The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth 1918–1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd.ISBN 978-0-85130-164-8.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNo. 542 Squadron RAF.

• Squadron history on RafWeb
• Squadron history on the official RAF website

• Aircraft squadrons of the Royal Air Force in World War II
• Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons
• Reconnaissance units and formations of the Royal Air Force
• Military units and formations established in 1942

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