German fleet during the war. The first British prisoner of war in World War II was Sergeant George Booth, a navigator with 107 Squadron. He was captured when his Bristol Blenheim was shot down over the German coast on that 4 September 1939. In April 1940 the squadron carried out attacks on German forces engaged in the invasion of Norway and after the invasion of France and the Low Countries in May 1940 began attacking enemy columns and communications. Following the Dunkirk evacuation the squadron became engaged with attacking invasion barges and shipping concentrations in the Channel ports. In one of these attacks the new Commanding Officer, Wing Commander Basil Embry was shot down. He had taken over the squadron shortly after the disastrous first war mission in September 1939 and had taught the squadron the need for a tight formation for mutual defence which served the squadron time and again. The adventurous story of his escape from captivity eventually reached book form. In Coastal Command Between 3 March 1941 and May 1941, the squadron was on loan to RAF Coastal Command and stationed at RAF Leuchars. Its duties while in Coastal Command were various: shipping strikes, convoy duties, coastal patrols, submarine searches and attacks on enemy airfields and harbours. These were quite hazardous as the squadron lost two COs during these operations, Wing Commander Cameron in April and Wing Commander Birch on 4 May 1941. To Malta On return to RAF Bomber Command the squadron took up its low-level daylight raids again until August of that year, when the aircraft of the unit and their pilots -the air detachment of the squadron- were sent to Malta. From there anti-shipping missions were carried out along the Axis' north-south convoy routes, around the Italian coast, Sicily, and along the North African coast. However, after the Italian and German air forces strengthened the air defence of Sicily in December, 1941, and began round-the-clock bombing of the Malta airfields, the air detachment was withdrawn and disbanded at Luqa on 12 January 1942. Losses among the squadron had been so heavy – 90% of all original and replacement crews were killed in action during the Malta operations – that at one time the squadron was commanded by a sergeant, I. G. Broom. It was not the last time this man was in command of a RAF unit, he ended his career as Air Marshal