Friday, 1 January 1943 — War Diary

21 Squadron War Diary

January 1 Soluch

The first signal to arrive in the New Year advised that the Squadron "com. kite" is to fly up from L.G. 98 today. The “A” Party, having been without post for a week, is looking forward to its arrival.All Officers and N.C.O's. in charge of Flights and Sections gathered in the Officers Mess and received instructions for the pending movement of "A" Party to one of the newly completed aerodromes at CHEL and GZINA, 25 miles South of SULTAN in Tripolitania. Our transport is 100% serviceable and, apart from furniture recently collected, the Party is fully mobile. Instructions received from Wing that "A" Party is to await the arrival and establishment here of “B” Party from TMIMI. Instructions to"B" Party to move up have been given direct by Wing. Lt. Col. A. D. IRVINE, the Commanding Officer arrived from L.G. 98, piloting "693"' which brought our post.No operational flying: Oprep No. 152

Transcriber's Notes

L.G: Landing Ground.
L.G. 98: Landing Ground 98.
N.C.O: Non-Commissioned Officer.
L.T: Local Time.
Lt. Col: Lieutenant Colonel.
Col: Colonel.

"693": The communications aircraft (likely the C.O.'s Baltimore) returned safely to the rear base at L.G. 98, completing the holiday supply run.

Chel and Gzina: Likely phonetic spellings or local names for landing grounds near the Wadi Cheil or Gzina area. Moving deep into Tripolitania meant the squadron was supporting the final push towards Tripoli itself.