| Unit Name: | No. 543 Squadron RAF |
| Dates: | 19 October 1942 – 18 October 1943 24 September 1955 – 24 May 1974 |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Branch: | Royal Air Force |
| Role: | Photographic Reconnaissance |
| Command Structure: | No. 16 Group, RAF Coastal Command (42–43)[1] No. 3 Group, RAF Bomber Command (55–68)[2] No. 1 Group, RAF Strike Command (68–74)[3] |
| Motto: | Valiant and Vigilant[4] [5] |
| Identification Symbol: | A crane's head, the crane carrying an open padlock, with key, in its beak |
| Identification Symbol Label: | Squadron Badge heraldry |
| Identification Symbol 2: | No codes are known to have been carried[6] [7] |
| Identification Symbol 2 Label: | Squadron Codes |
No. 543 Squadron RAF was a photographic reconnaissance squadron of the Royal Air Force, active in two periods between 1942 and 1974.
The squadron was formed on 19 October 1942[5] at RAF Benson as a photo-reconnaissance unit with the Supermarine Spitfire. A detachment was stationed at RAF St Eval, Cornwall to carry out reconnaissance flights over France. The rest of the squadron carried out operational training. On 18 October 1943 the squadron was disbanded.
On 24 September 1955 the squadron was reformed at RAF Gaydon to operate the Vickers Valiant for reconnaissance duties. It moved to RAF Wyton in November 1955.[8] The squadron's official war role was to carry out pre- and post-strike reconnaissance in support of the RAF's nuclear-armed V-bombers, although the post-strike bomb damage assessment mission was soon abandoned as impracticable in a nuclear war.[9] [10] The squadron carried out frequent long-range survey flights, including mapping Thailand in 1959 and 1961 in Operation Segment, and surveying Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Bechuanaland (now Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana respectively) in 1964 in Operation Pontifex.[11] [12] Other photo survey duties were carried out to aid relief efforts following natural disasters, with Valiants despatched to survey the damage following the 1960 Agadir earthquake and mapped British Honduras in December 1961 following the devastating Hurricane Hattie.[13] The squadron also carried out Maritime Reconnaissance over the North Atlantic, Norwegian and Barents Seas.[14] In 1964, the Valiant developed metal fatigue problems, with one of the squadron's Valiants was found to have a cracked wing spar in July 1964 during Operation Pontifex. Inspection of the squadron's aircraft in October 1964 found that only two of eight were fit for further service. The RAF's Valiant fleet, including No. 543's aircraft, were grounded on 26 January 1965.[15]
The squadron re-equipped with the Handley Page Victor in 1965, receiving its first Victor B(SR)2 on 19 May 1965 and reaching its full strength of eight aircraft by April 1966.[16] The squadron's Victors increasingly concentrated on the Maritime Radar Reconnaissance role, as photographic duties could be carried out for less money by the RAF's English Electric Canberras, but the Victors' cameras were retained until 1974. The squadron had a secondary role of air sampling This involved flying through plumes of airborne contamination and using onboard equipment to collect fallout released from French and Chinese nuclear tests for later analysis at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston.[17] The squadron also found time to enter two Victors in the May 1969 Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Air Race.[17] It was disbanded on 24 May 1974 at RAF Wyton.[18]
| October 1942 | October 1943 | Mks.IV & V | ||
| November 1942 | October 1943 | Supermarine Spitfire | Mk.IX | |
| June 1943 | October 1943 | PR.IV | ||
| June 1955 | December 1964 | B(PR).1 | ||
| February 1956 | December 1964 | Vickers Valiant | B(PR)K.1 | |
| May 1965 | December 1965 | B.1 | ||
| January 1966 | May 1974 | Handley Page Victor | B.2(SR) |
| October 1942 | October 1942 | S/Ldr. A.E. Hill DSO, DFC & Bar |
| October 1942 | February 1943 | S/Ldr. G.E. Hughes DFC |
| February 1943 | August 1943 | S/Ldr. F.A. Robinson DFC |
| September 1943 | October 1943 | F/Lt. R.C. Cusson |
| September 1955 | August 1957 | W/Cdr. R.E. Havercroft AFC |
| August 1957 | September 1959 | W/Cdr. R. Berry DSO, OBE, DFC |
| September 1959 | January 1962 | W/Cdr. C.J. StD. Jeffries DFC |
| January 1962 | December 1963 | W/Cdr. B. Hamilton OBE, DFC, AFC |
| December 1963 | February 1966 | W/Cdr. A.W. Tarry |
| February 1966 | W/Cdr. R.H. McV. Redfern | |
| 19 October 1942 | 18 October 1943 | Detachments at RAF St Eval, Cornwall; RAF Mount Farm, Oxfordshire; Grasnaya and Vaenga, Russia | ||
| 1 July 1955 | 18 November 1955 | |||
| 18 November 1955 | 23 March 1970 | |||
| 23 March 1970 | 1 October 1970 | |||
| 1 October 1970 | 24 May 1974 | RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire | Disbanded here |