No. 341 Squadron RAF

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}} {{Use British English|date=August 2015}} {{more citations needed|date=February 2013}} {{Infobox military unit |unit_name= No. 341 (GC III/2 'Alsace') Squadron RAF |image= |caption= |dates= 15 January 1943 – 27 November 1945 |country= {{flag|United Kingdom}} |allegiance= {{flag|Free French Forces}} |branch= {{air force|United Kingdom}} |type= |role= |size= |command_structure= [[RAF Fighter Command]] |garrison= |garrison_label= |nickname=GC III/2 'Alsace' |patron= |motto= ''Friendship'' |colors= |colors_label= |march= |mascot= |equipment= |equipment_label= |battles= |anniversaries= |decorations= |battle_honours=  |commander1= |commander1_label= |commander2= |commander2_label= |commander3= |commander3_label= |notable_commanders=  |identification_symbol= On a hand three crowns of Alsace<br><small>The unit was named Groupe de Chasse Alsace and the three crowns symbolise liberty</small><ref>Rawlings 1978, p. 413.</ref> |identification_symbol_label= Squadron Badge heraldry |identification_symbol_2= '''NL''' (Jan 1943 – Nov 1945) |identification_symbol_2_label= Squadron code }} The '''No. 341 Squadron''' also known in French as ''Groupe de Chasse n° 3/2 "Alsace"'', was a [[Free French]] [[Squadron (aviation)|squadron]] in the [[RAF]] during [[World War II]].

==History== No. 341 Squadron was formed on 15 January 1943<ref>Halley 1988, p.377.</ref> at [[RAF Turnhouse]], with personnel from the Free French Air Forces (''[[History of the Armée de l'Air (1940-1945)|Forces aériennes françaises libres]]''). Pilots included veterans of the Free French Flight No.2 (FF Fighter Flt.) and of the Première Escadrille de Chasse (E.F.C. 1)). They had fought in the Western Desert alongside RAF fighter squadrons, such as No. 33 and No. 73 squadrons, and had been awarded the [[Ordre de la Libération]] on 21 June 1941.

The squadron was equipped with [[Supermarine Spitfire variants|Spitfire VBs]], its first commander being [[Squadron Leader]] [[René Mouchotte]]. The squadron moved to [[RAF Biggin Hill]] on 21 March 1943 and, re-equipped with [[Supermarine Spitfire variants|Supermarine Spitfire L.F Mk.IX]]s, began to take part in sweeps over France. The squadron moved to [[Cornwall]] on 11 October 1943 for similar operations over [[Brittany]], returning to [[RAF Merston]] on 14 April 1944 to join No. 145 Wing. [[Pierre Clostermann]] experienced his first aerial combat as a wingman of Sqn Ldr Mouchotte.

After covering the Allied landings in France in June 1944, No. 341 Squadron moved from [[RAF Tangmere|Tangmere]] to [[Sommervieu]] (B8 airfield) in [[Normandy]] on 19 August and arrived in [[Belgium]] in September. Armed [[reconnaissance]] sweeps over Germany were directed mainly at enemy communications for the rest of the war, apart from a month at [[Turnhouse]] during February 1945 to equip with the Spitfire Mark XVI. On 28 May 1945 the squadron was presented with the [[Ordre de la Libération]] (Cross of Liberation).

On 27 November 1945,<ref>Rawlings 1978, p. 414.</ref> the squadron gave up its aircraft on transfer to [[Friedrichshafen]] and on the following day passed to the control of the [[Armée de l'Air]]. During the war the Squadron flew 5,469 operations, claiming some 30 aircraft shot down, and losing 21 pilots killed and 6 taken prisoner.

==See also== *[[Free French Flight]] *[[List of RAF squadrons]]

==References==

===Notes=== {{Reflist}}

===Bibliography=== {{Refbegin}} * Halley, James J. ''The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth 1918–1988''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. {{ISBN|0-85130-164-9}}. * Jefford, C.G. ''RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1988 (second edition 2001). {{ISBN|1-85310-053-6}}. * Rawlings, John D.R. ''Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft''. London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1969 (2nd edition 1976). {{ISBN|0-354-01028-X}}. {{Refend}}

==External links== {{Commons category|No. 341 (Free French) Squadron RAF}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090301202258/http://rafweb.org/Sqn310-347.htm#326 Squadron histories for nos. 310–347 sqn on RAFweb] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160406021427/http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/341squadron.cfm Squadron histories for nos. 341 sqn at Royal Air Force website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 341 Squadron Raf}} [[Category:Free French squadrons of the Royal Air Force|341 Squadron]] [[Category:Military units and formations established in 1943]] [[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1945]] [[Category:Companions of the Liberation]]