No. 217 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the RAF. It was formed and disbanded four times between 1 April 1918 and 13 November 1959. In World War I it served in a strike role against enemy bases and airfields in Belgium. In World War II as part of RAF Coastal Command it served first in a maritime patrol role along the Western Approaches and later in an anti-shipping role in the English Channel. Ordered to the Far East in 1942, the squadron was retained for two months in Malta in an anti-shipping role, protecting Allied convoys, before moving to Ceylon to defend the approaches to India, serving in an anti-submarine and anti-shipping role. It was equipped and training for a strike role, when the war ended. In the postwar period, it served for five years in a maritime reconnaissance role, and th