No. 576 Squadron RAF

Last updated

No. 576 Squadron RAF
576 Squadron RAF Lancaster Fiskerton 1945 AWM P00811.019.jpg
576 Squadron Avro Lancaster at RAF Fiskerton, 1945
Active25 Nov 1943 – 13 Sep 1945
Country Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Branch Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg Royal Air Force
Role Bomber squadron
Part of No. 1 Group, RAF Bomber Command [1]
Motto(s) Latin: Carpe Diem
(Translation: "Seize the opportunity" or "Pluck the day") [2] [3]
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldryA merlin, wings inverted and addorsed, preying on a serpent [3]
The squadron had its aircraft fitted with Merlin engines and the badge is symbolic of the unit seeking out and destroying its prey [2]
Squadron CodesUL (Nov 1943 – Sep 1945) [4] [5]
Aircraft flown
Bomber Avro Lancaster
Four-engined heavy bomber

No. 576 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Second World War heavy bomber squadron.

Contents

History

576 Squadron was formed on 25 November 1943 at RAF Elsham Wolds in Lincolnshire under the command of Wing Commander G.T.B Clayton DFC. "A" Flight was formed under Squadron Leader Dilworth and composed of 4 experienced aircrews drawn from 101 Squadron, with the remainder drawn from the Group 1 Heavy Conversion Units. "B" Flight was formed under Squadron Leader Attwater and consisted of 13 experienced aircrew and 9 aircraft from "C" Flight of 103 squadron.

576 Squadron commenced operations in the night of 2/3 December 1943, when seven Avro Lancasters were sent out to bomb Berlin. [6] FSGT John Booth RAAF and crew in UL-R2 (W4123) failed to return from this operation. Eleven months later 576 Squadron moved to RAF Fiskerton, a little way outside Lincoln. During its brief period of existence 576 Squadron operated only one type of aircraft, the Avro Lancaster four-engined heavy bomber. It carried out 2,788 operation sorties with the Lancaster, with the loss of 66 aircraft. [7] The last bombs of the squadron were dropped on 25 April 1945, when 23 of the squadrons aircraft bombed Obersalzberg with no loss of personnel. During this period, 576 Squadron flew 2,788 operational sorties; 67 aircraft were lost, including two abandoned over France in February 1945. The Jamaican airman Billy Strachan, who would later become a pioneer of black civil rights in Britain, flew 15 operations as the pilot of an Avro Lancaster with the squadron. [8]

576 then took part in Operation Manna - the dropping of food supplies to the Dutch; Operation Exodus - repatriation of British ex-POWs to Great Britain; Operation Post Mortem - testing the efficiency of captured German early-warning radar; and Operation Dodge-the transport of British troops to Great Britain from Italy. 576 Squadron's last operation was part of Operation Manna in which 28 aircraft were detailed to drop food to the starving Dutch people in Rotterdam on 7 May 1945. [6]

576 Squadron was disbanded at Fiskerton on 13 September 1945.

Aircraft operated

Aircraft operated by no. 576 Squadron, data from [3] [6] [9]
FromToAircraftVersion
November 1943September 1945 Avro Lancaster Mks.I, III

Notable aircraft

Four of the Lancasters that flew with 576 squadron managed to survive one hundred operations or more:

No. 576 Squadron RAF aircraft with the most number of operations, data from [10]
Serial no.NameOperationsCall-signFateRemarks
ED888"Mike Squared"140UL-V2, UL-M2Struck off charge, 8 January 1947Flew 140 missions in total, initially with No. 103 Squadron RAF from April 1943, and then with 576 Squadron. The aircraft was returned to 103 Squadron when 576 moved to RAF Fiskerton and was re-coded PM-M2. This is the code which she is traditionally shown in, however most of her 140 operations were flown while at 576 Squadron. [11] [12]
ME801"Nan"114UL-C2, UL-N2Struck off charge, 16 October 1945 [13]
LM594"A Able"104UL-G2, UL-A2Struck off charge, 13 February 1947 [14]
LM227"Item"100UL-I2Struck off charge, 16 October 1945 [15]

Squadron bases

Bases and airfields used by no. 576 Squadron, data from [3] [9] [16]
FromToBase
25 November 194331 October 1944 RAF Elsham Wolds, Lincolnshire
31 October 194413 September 1945 RAF Fiskerton, Lincolnshire

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 578 Squadron RAF</span> Defunct flying squadron of the Royal Air Force

No. 578 Squadron RAF was a heavy bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

No. 640 Squadron RAF was a heavy bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

No. 635 Squadron RAF was a heavy bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

No. 630 Squadron RAF was a heavy bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 619 Squadron RAF</span> Defunct flying squadron of the Royal Air Force

No. 619 Squadron RAF was a heavy bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, flying Lancaster bombers from bases in Lincolnshire.

No. 514 Squadron RAF was a bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

No. 625 Squadron RAF was a heavy bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

No. 582 Squadron RAF was a bomber pathfinder squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

No. 626 Squadron RAF was a heavy bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force from 1943 to 1945.

No. 513 Squadron RAF was a non-operational bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force in 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 358 Squadron RAF</span> Defunct flying squadron of the Royal Air Force

No. 358 Squadron RAF was a Bomber and Special duties squadron of the Royal Air Force flying with South East Asia Command from 1944 to 1945.

No. 61 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was first formed as a fighter squadron of the British Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. It was reformed in 1937 as a bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force and served in the Second World War and after, until disbanded in 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 463 Squadron RAAF</span> Royal Australian Air Force squadron

No. 463 Squadron RAAF was a Royal Australian Air Force heavy bomber squadron during World War II. The squadron was formed in the United Kingdom in late 1943 from personnel and aircraft allocated from No. 467 Squadron RAAF. The squadron was equipped with Avro Lancaster bombers and flew its first raids on Germany immediately after being formed. Operating as part of RAF Bomber Command No. 463 Squadron conducted raids against cities, industrial facilities and military targets in Germany, France and Norway throughout 1944 and until the end of the war in May 1945. Following the war, the squadron evacuated Allied prisoners of war from Europe until it was disbanded in late 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 467 Squadron RAAF</span> Royal Australian Air Force squadron

No. 467 Squadron RAAF was a Royal Australian Air Force bomber squadron, active over North West Europe during World War II. Formed in November 1942 as an Article XV Squadron in Britain, the squadron was notionally an Australian squadron under the command of the Royal Air Force, and consisted of a mixture of personnel from various Commonwealth nations. After becoming operational in early 1943, the squadron flew operations in Occupied Europe until the end of the war flying Avro Lancaster heavy bombers. It was scheduled to deploy to the Far East to take part in further operations against Japan, but the war ended before it could complete its training and the squadron was disbanded in September 1945.

No. 160 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force unit during the Second World War, when it flew for four years in a number of roles including heavy bomber, minelaying, reconnaissance, special operations and transport unit in the Middle East and South-East Asian theatre of World War II.

No. 158 Squadron RAF was a World War I proposed ground attack squadron that did not become operational in time to see action, and a World War II bomber squadron. After World War II had ended in Europe the squadron operated in the transport role until disbandment in December 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 550 Squadron RAF</span> Former flying squadron of the Royal Air Force

No. 550 Squadron RAF was a heavy bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Formed at RAF Waltham on 25 November 1943, 550 Squadron flew Avro Lancaster bombers as part of No. 1 Group RAF. In early 1944, the squadron was moved to RAF North Killingholme, Lincolnshire where it continued operations until May 1945, when it began dropping food over the Netherlands as a relief effort as part of Operation Manna. The squadron was disbanded on 31 October 1945. Today, a surviving Lancaster bomber continues to fly in the markings of BQ-B "Phantom of the Ruhr" EE139 from 550 squadron as part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

No. 524 Squadron was a Royal Air Force Coastal Command aircraft squadron that operated during the Second World War.

No. 196 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron originally formed as a training unit during World War I. It was active during World War II in Nos. 3, 4 and 38 Group RAF. It served first as a bomber squadron and later as an airborne support and transport unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No. 156 Squadron RAF</span> Defunct flying squadron of the Royal Air Force

No. 156 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron that was active as a bomber unit in World War II.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Delve 1994, pp. 68, 77.
  2. 1 2 Moyes 1976, p. 269.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Halley 1988, p. 413.
  4. ↑ Bowyer & Rawlings 1979, p. 101.
  5. ↑ Flintham & Thomas 2003, p. 109.
  6. 1 2 3 Moyes 1976 , p. 270.
  7. ↑ Falconer 2003 , p. 256.
  8. ↑ Horsley, David (23 May 2019). "Billy Strachan's was a remarkable life". Islington Tribune . Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  9. 1 2 Jefford 2001 , p. 98.
  10. ↑ Moyes 1976 , p. 362.
  11. ↑ "ED888 'Mother'/'Mike Squared'". Build the Lancaster. Hachette Partworks. 2011.
  12. ↑ Franks 1994 , pp. 72–78.
  13. ↑ Franks 1994 , pp. 154–158.
  14. ↑ Franks 1994 , pp. 141–144.
  15. ↑ Franks 1994 , pp. 130–134.
  16. ↑ Moyes 1976 , pp. 269–270.

Bibliography

  • Bowyer, Michael J.F.; Rawlings, John D.R. (1979). Squadron Codes, 1937–56. Cambridge, UK: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   0-85059-364-6.
  • Delve, Ken (1994). The Source Book of the RAF. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing. ISBN   1-85310-451-5.
  • Flintham, Vic; Thomas, Andrew (2003). Combat Codes: A full explanation and listing of British, Commonwealth and Allied air force unit codes since 1938. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd. ISBN   1-84037-281-8.
  • Franks, Norman (1994). Claims to Fame: The Lancaster. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN   1-85409-220-0.
  • Halley, James J. (1988). The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918–1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN   0-85130-164-9.
  • Falconer, Jonathan (2003). Bomber Command Handbook 1939–1945. Stroud, England: Sutton Publishing. ISBN   0-7509-3171-X.
  • Jefford, C.G. (2001). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd. ISBN   1-85310-053-6.
  • Moyes, Philip J.R. (1976). Bomber Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd. ISBN   0-354-01027-1.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.