Group photograph of 603 Squadron posing with a Bristol Beaufighter, April 1944

No. 603 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, a reserve component of the RAF comprised of civilians designed to reinforce the RAF. They were one of 20 squadrons incorporated into the RAF at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.

No. 603 Squadron began the war in a transition between Gladiators and Spitfires, which the war accelerated. They flew from UK bases, and for four months from April 1942 defended Malta. They moved to the Beaufighter in 1943. The Bristol Beaufighter was a multirole aircraft, proving successful as a night fighter and a maritime strike and ground attack aircraft. In April 1944 No. 603 Squadron were operating from Egypt, engaged in convoy patrols and escort missions along the North African coast and later sweeps over German held islands in the Aegean and off Greece. Attacks on enemy shipping continued until the lack of targets enabled the squadron to be returned to the UK in December 1944. On 10 January 1945, No. 603 reassembled at RAF Coltishall in the UK and began flying Spitfires again until their disbandment on 15 August 1945.