No. 355 Squadron RAF

Last updated

No. 355 Squadron RAF
355 Squadron Liberation Burma (AWM image SEA0010).JPG
355 Squadron personnel, November 1944
Active18 August 1943 – 31 May 1946
Country Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Branch Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg Royal Air Force
Motto(s) Latin: Liberamus Per Caerula
(Translation: "We liberate through tropical skies") [1] [2]
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldryAn elephant's head affronté [1] [2]
Aircraft flown
Bomber Consolidated Liberator

No. 355 Squadron RAF was a long-range bomber squadron based in British India from August 1943 until it disbanded in May 1946. Raised for service during the Second World War, the squadron was equipped with Consolidated Liberator aircraft and carried out operations against the Japanese during the Burma campaign.

Contents

History

The squadron was formed at Salbani, Bengal, British India on 18 August 1943, and carried out its first bombing mission on 20 November 1943. [3] The squadron mounted numerous raids on the Burma–Siam railway along with other important targets such as bridges, airfields, port facilities, supply dumps, gun positions, and marshalling yards. [4] [5] During this period, the squadron included a significant number of Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) aircrew personnel, attached to it under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. [6] [7]

Wing Commander James Brindley Nicolson, recipient of the only Victoria Cross awarded during the Battle of Britain, was killed 2 May 1945, when the 355 Squadron Liberator he was flying in as an observer, crashed into the Bay of Bengal shortly after an engine caught fire. The last raid carried out by the squadron was on 7 August 1945 against the Burma–Siam railway. [3]

After the war, 355 Squadron dropped emergency food supplies to Prisoners of War, and starving civilians in Burma. Between January and April 1946 the squadron operated from Digri, a little north of Salbani, [8] returning to Salbani (west of Calcutta) where it undertook aerial survey work shortly before it disbanded on 31 May 1946. [4]

Aircraft operated

Aircraft operated by no. 355 Squadron RAF, data from [2] [9] [10]
FromToAircraftVersion
October 1943July 1944 Consolidated Liberator Mk.III
March 1944September 1945Consolidated LiberatorMk.VI
August 1945May 1946Consolidated LiberatorMk.VIII

Squadron bases

Bases and airfields used by no. 355 Squadron RAF, data from [1] [2] [9] [11]
FromToBaseRemark
18 August 19433 January 1946 RAF Salbani, Bengal, British India Dets. at RAF Dhubalia, Bengal; RAF Digri, Bengal and RAF Pegu ('Pilsener'), Burma
3 January 19463 April 1946RAF Digri, Bengal, British IndiaDet. at RAF Pegu, Burma
3 April 194631 May 1946RAF Salbani, Bengal, British IndiaDet. at RAF Pegu, Burma

Related Research Articles

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.

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. 354 Squadron RAF Squadron of the Royal Air Force

No. 354 Squadron RAF was a general reconnaissance 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. 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.

No. 358 Squadron RAF Military unit

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. 356 Squadron RAF was a short-lived long-range bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force between 1944 and 1945.

No. 463 Squadron RAAF 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.

No. 467 Squadron RAAF 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. 357 Squadron was a special operations squadron of the Royal Air Force. During the Second World War it was involved in supplying Allied ground forces operating behind enemy lines, in the South-East Asian theatre.

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. 353 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron, active during World War II carrying out maritime patrol and transport tasks.

RAF Dalton Royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England

Royal Air Force Dalton or more simply RAF Dalton is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located near to Dalton, North Yorkshire, England.

No. 549 Squadron RAF Military unit

No. 549 Squadron RAF was a fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF) operating in Australia from 1943 to 1945.

No. 576 Squadron RAF Military unit

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

No. 627 Squadron RAF Military unit

No. 627 Squadron was a Royal Air Force Mosquito aircraft pathfinder bomber squadron that operated during the Second World War.

No. 614 Squadron RAF Military unit

No. 614 Squadron was originally formed on 1 June 1937 as an army co-operation squadron unit of the Auxiliary Air Force. It served during the Second World War first in this role and later as a bomber squadron. Upon reformation it served as a fighter squadron until the disbandment of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force on 10 March 1957.

No. 292 Squadron RAF was an air-sea rescue (ASR) squadron of the Royal Air Force operating in the Bay of Bengal during the Second World War.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Moyes 1976, p. 232.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Halley 1988, p. 385.
  3. 1 2 Moyes 1976 , p. 233.
  4. 1 2 "Squadron histories for nos. 353–361 squadron on "Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  5. ↑ Odgers 1968, pp. 414–416, 428–429.
  6. ↑ Odgers 1968, pp. 413 & 419.
  7. ↑ "Salbani, Bengal, India. 1944-11-24. Group portrait of some of the RAAF and Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  8. ↑ Jefford 2001 , pp. 270–271.
  9. 1 2 Jefford 2001 , p. 90.
  10. ↑ Moyes 1976 , pp. 232–233.
  11. ↑ Jefford 2001 , pp. 268–271.

Bibliography

  • 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.
  • Jefford, C.G. (2001) [1988]. RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912 (2nd ed.). Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing. ISBN   1-85310-053-6.
  • Moyes, Philip J.R. (1976) [1964]. Bomber Squadron of the RAF and their Aircraft (2nd ed.). London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd. ISBN   0-354-01027-1.
  • Odgers, George (1968) [1957]. Volume II – Air War Against Japan 1943–1945. Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series Three (Air). Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC   246580191.

Further reading

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.