No. 663 Squadron RAF was first formed in northern Italy on 14 August 1944, as an Air Observation Post (AOP) unit, manned by Polish officers and men, to spot for allied artillery units located in that war zone. Volunteer Polish Army officers had been sent by ship to South Africa in June 1944 for initial training as pilots and then for operational training in the very low-level AOP role. The squadron was officially formed at San Basilio in Italy on 14 August 1944 as 663 Polski Szwadron Powietrznych Punktów Obserwacyjnych. The fifteen successful officers reached Italy on 28 October. All squadron personnel were drawn from Polish artillery units. The squadron's primary role was to observe enemy ground targets and to help direct artillery fire on them.
After further advanced training, the squadron was declared operational on 30 January 1945. The squadron's HQ was at Villa Carpena, with three flights, two of which were detached elsewhere as needed to support units of No. 2 Polish Corps artillery units on the progressing 'front line'. Auster AOP IV and V 'spotter' aircraft were flown in the unit's close support operations. After meritorious service with some pilots being killed, the unit left for the UK on 10 October 1946 and was formally disbanded on 29 October 1946.
No. 663 Squadron was reformed on 1 July 1949 as an AOP unit of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force equipped with Auster AOP.5s and Auster AOP.6s. Tiger Moth and DHC-1 Chipmunk aircraft were used for training and proficiency flights. The squadron headquarters was at RAF Hooton Park, Wirral, Cheshire with dispersed flights at RAF Ringway, RAF Llandow, South Wales, and Wolverhampton (Pendeford) – the latter flight moving on to Castle Bromwich Aerodrome near Birmingham.
For the next eight years, No. 663 flew very low-level 'spotting' sorties in co-operation with Territorial Army artillery units, often based for the weekend in a friendly farmers field – for example near Tarporley, Cheshire. The squadron disbanded on 10 March 1957, at the same time as all other Royal Auxiliary Air Force flying units.
The unit was reformed as 663 Aviation Squadron in October 1969 atNetheravon, Wiltshire. Its allocated role was to support army formations in the Salisbury Plain area. The squadron's initial equipment was the Bell 47 Sioux helicopter, with these being later replaced by Westland Scout gas-turbine helicopters. On 1 January 1973 the unit was renamed No. 663 Squadron Army Air Corps. The Squadron again disbanded in July 1977.
Following a restructuring of Army Air Corps squadrons, 660 Squadron was redesignated as 663 Squadron, part of 3 Regiment Army Air Corps, based in Soest. From 1993 it has been based at Wattisham Airfield near Stowmarket, Suffolk. In recent years it has replaced its Westland Gazelles with Westland-assembled Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. More recently, the squadron has served in the Iraq War (Operation Telic) and in Afghanistan (Operation Herrick).
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