The Weathermen
On the 1st October 1946, 202 Squadron rose once again, like a Phoenix, from the ashes of it's disbandment. In it's resurrection it consumed 518 Squadron. 518 had been a meteorological unit equipped with Handley Page Halifax bombers that had been modified and fitted with state of the art (1946 ) barometers and thermometers. The Squadron had not travelled far from their previous location, just a few miles Eastwards to RAF Aldergrove, close by Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland. The Sqn was to last in this form until 1964. In 1950 the squadron was equipped with the Handley Page Hastings, the RAF's first post war transport aircraft. The introduction of this aircraft greatly improved the conditions for the met crews and thier instruments.
The arrival of a new kind of flying machine (?) sounded the death knell for 202 Squadron as a meteorological flying unit. The modern space age had given the world satellites that orbited the earth and could be used to read the weather patterns forming almost anywhere in the world almost as they happened. The Squadron disbanded on 31st July 1964
The following is a first hand account of the duties and history of the squadron at that time.Acknowledgements and thanks to the authors, Hugh Cumming and John Malcolm.
