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Aircraft - Locations - Group and Duty - Books
No.489 Squadron, RNZAF, was a UK based anti-shipping squadron that served with Coastal Command
The squadron was formed on 12 August 1941. It was originally equipped with the Bristol Beaufort torpedo-bomber but went through two changes of equipment before finally beginning operations. In January 1942 the Beauforts were replaced with Blenheim IVs from No.143 Squadron. In March these were replaced with Handley Page Hampden I torpedo-bombers.
In May 1942 the squadron finally began operations, flying anti-submarine patrols over the Bay of Biscay with its Hampdens. The squadron's main base remained at Thorney Island, in West Sussex, while the operational detachment was based at St. Eval, Cornwall.
At this stage the squadron still hadn't trained with its torpedos, and so in June 1842 a detachment was sent to the torpedo training unit at Abbotsinch (to the west of Glasgow).
In July a detachment moved to Tain, in the far north-east of Scotland, and began to fly shipping sweeps off the Norwegian coast. In August the entire squadron joined the detachment and the united squadron moved a short distance from Tain to a base at Skitten, just to the north of Wick. In the next month the squadron moved to Wick itself.
The united squadron flew anti-shipping patrols off the Norwegian coast from then until April 1944. The Hampdens were finally replaced with more modern Beaufighters in November 1943.
In April 1944 the squadron moved south to East Anglia. It was used to attack German shipping off the Dutch coast during the D-Day landings and the battle of Normandy, as part of the campaign to isolate the battlefield.
In October 1944 the squadron returned to Scotland where it spent the rest of the war operating off the coast of Norway. After the end of the war it began to convert to the Mosquito, but the squadron disbanded on 1 August 1945 before this could be completed.
Aircraft
August 1941-January 1942: Bristol Beaufort I
January-March 1942: Bristol Blenheim IV
March 1942-November 1943: Handley Page Hampden I
November 1943-June 1945: Bristol Beaufighter X
June 1945-August 1945: Bristol Beaufighter X and de Havilland Mosquito VI
Location
August 1941-February 1942: Leuchars
February-August 1942: Thorney Island
May-June 1942: Detachment to St. Eval
June-July 1942: Detachment to Abbotsinch
July-August 1942: Detachment to Tain
August-September 1942: Skitten
September 1942-October 1943: Wick
October 1943-April 1944: Leuchars
April-October 1944: Langham
October 1944-June 1945: Dallachy
June-August 1945: Banff
Squadron Codes: XA (Hampden), P6 (Beaufighter)
Duty
May-June 1942: Anti-submarine sweeps, Bay of Biscay
July 1942-April 1944: Anti-shipping sweeps, Norway
April-October 1944: Anti-shipping sweeps, Dutch coast
October 1944 onwards: Anti-shipping sweeps, Norway