No. 296 Squadron RAF
Active	25 January 1942 – 23 January 1946
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Role	Airborne forces and Transport
Part of	No. 38 Group RAF[1]
Motto	Prepared for all things[2][3]
Engagements	Sicily, Normandy, Arnhem
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	In front of a sword in pale, the point downwards, a scroll[2][3]
Squadron Codes	XH (Aug 1942 – Nov 1943)[4][5] 9W (Oct 1943 – Jan 1946)[6][7] 7C (Mar 1944 – Jan 1946)[8][9]

No. 296 Squadron RAF was a transport squadron of theRoyal Air Force during theSecond World War. With sister squadrons295 and297 it formed 38 Wing, which later expanded to createNo. 38 Group RAF.^[1]

No. 296 Squadron was formed atRingway Airport near Manchester on 25 January 1942 from the Glider Exercise Unit as an airborne forces unit, equipped with obsoleteHawker Hectors andHawker Harts, and moved toRAF Netheravon to concentrate on glider training. In June 1942 it began to receive theArmstrong Whitworth Whitley and in October 1942 began flying leaflet dropping missions over France. In early 1943 the squadron converted to theAlbemarle Mk.I and in Summer 1943 moved 32 aircraft to Froha, Algeria to take part inOperation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, returning later in the year.

The squadron was involved in the first part of the D-Day landings. On the night of 5/6 June 1944, as part ofOperation Tonga, three Albemarles flew Pathfinder parachutists to Normandy followed by eight more loaded with paratroops of 5th Parachute Brigade. During 6 June the squadron returned with a further eight towing Horsa gliders. ForOperation Mallard which immediately followed, No. 296 Squadron despatched 19 aircraft towing gliders to Normandy. Other missions involved dropping SAS sabotage teams behind enemy lines. The Albemarle's last major mission came during theBattle of Arnhem, where the squadron towed across forty-six gliders in two waves fromManston aerodrome without loss in the first two days of the battle. The Albemarles gave way in September 1944 to theHandley Page Halifax of which 30 were provided forOperation Varsity, the Rhine crossings. At the end of the war the squadron was used to ferry troops to Norway and Denmark to take the German surrender and to bring liberated POWs back to Britain.

The squadron operated a mail service to India from December 1945 until it disbanded on 23 January 1946 atRAF Earls Colne, Essex.

• No. 38 Group RAF
• List of Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNo. 296 Squadron RAF.

• Site with pages for all squadron of No. 38 Group RAF
• 296 Squadron
• Squadron history on MOD site
• squadron histories nos. 296–299 on RAFWeb's Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation

• Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons
• Aircraft squadrons of the Royal Air Force in World War II
• Transport units and formations of the Royal Air Force
• Military units and formations established in 1942
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1946

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