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  Bomber Command :: Dates of Milestone Operations

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Flying Squadrons
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349 Sqn
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467 Sqn
486 Sqn
503 Sqn
504 Sqn
527 Sqn
528 Sqn
532 Sqn
538 Sqn
542 Sqn
550 Sqn
576 Sqn
601 Sqn
609 Sqn
613 Sqn
616 Sqn
617 Sqn
619 Sqn
625 Sqn
626 Sqn
627 Sqn
630 Sqn

Heavy Conversion Units
1654 HCU
1656 HCU
1660 HCU
1661 HCU
1662 HCU
1665 HCU
1667 HCU
1668 HCU
21 HGCU

Advanced Flying Schools
201 AFS

Advanced Flying Units
12 AFU
15 AFU

Flying Training Schools
1 FTS
2 FTS
3 FTS
6 FTS
7 FTS
12 FTS
1 Lancaster Finishing School
Central Flying School

Operational Training/
Conversion Units
(Fighter)
6 OTU
53 OTU

56 OTU

(Bomber)
228 OCU
230 OCU

Air Armament Schools
1 AAS
2 AAS
Empire Central AS

Other schools
1 Gp Aircrew School
1 Ground Defence School
1 Air Observers School
Central Gunnery School
5 Gp Anti Air School

Other units
Bomber Command
Coastal Command
Fighter Command
HQ No 5 Group
HQ No 23 Group
1485 Gunnery Flight
2782 Defence Sqn
178 Support Unit
399 Signals Unit
Nationality based Sqns

Updated: 5 Aug 04

Aug 1940

The Battle of the Barges. Germany was preparing to invade south-east England and the French, Belgian and Dutch Channel ports were crowded with invasion barges. Bomber Command mounted low-level attacks and destroyed significant numbers as well as much other materiel.

17 Apr 1942

The Augsburg Raid. The introduction of the Lancaster led some, notably 5 Gp, to believe that it could defend itself in a deep penetration daylight operation. 44 Sqn and 97 Sqn were selected to attacked the MAN Diesel works at Augsburg, Bavaria in a rare 2 x 6-ship, tree-top height, daylight attack. Bad luck and inattention to timing caused the loss of 7 out of the 12 aircraft, with unspectacular results. The operational commander, Wing Commander John Nettleton, received the VC for this attack.

17 Oct 1942

Operation ROBINSON was the code name for the low-level dusk attack by 86 unescorted bombers on the Schneider Armaments and locomotive Works at Le Creusot, France. 5 Group trained for weeks in low-flying formations and the attack was a success with very low losses. Aircraft from 49 Sqn and 50 Sqn were involved.

30 May 1942

Operation MILLENIUM. The first 1,000 aircraft raid against Cologne on the night of and was a great success. There were two more such, but neither was successful, mainly on account of the weather. 5 Group contributed 162 aircraft and 286 tons of bombs to this first raid.

16 May 1943

The Dams Raid. Famous raid by 617 (Dambusters) Squadron on the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe Dams

  Operation GOMORRAH. The repeated raids by the RAF and USAAF on Hamburg caused such a series of giant fires that these combined into a firestorm or such intensity that 100+ mph winds were sucked into the city by the raging conflagration. This tactic was repeated at Dresden in Feb 1945.
8/9 Oct 1943

The final bomber raid including the Wellington, to Hanover.

summer 1943 - New Year 1944

The Battle of the Ruhr. The centre of gravity for the German armaments indutry was the crucial Ruhr Valley, a heavily defended area attacked repeatedly. Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg, Cologne, Bochum, Dusseldorf, Munchen-Gladbach were attacked time and time again. Serious damage was done to war production, factories destroyed, communications disrupted, and workers killed. Losses were just within tolerance limits.

30 Mar 1944

The Nuremburg Raid. On the night of Mar 30 1944, 795 Royal Air Force Bomber Command aircraft operated against Nuremburg and suffered 96 losses, with 8 more aircraft written off afterwards. Badly forecast winds and a straight-in attack path, coupled with a lack of predicted cloud cover and a full, bright moon, gave the defences what amounted to a turkey shoot. The strong winds rapidly fragmented the planned concentration of aircraft which was to swap enemy air defences. 155 other aircraft operated against other targets with only one loss. 101 Sqn was the lead contributing sqn and also suffered the most losses.

Autumn/Winter 1944/5

The Battle of Berlin. During autumn and winter 1944/45 3/4 of bomber operations were against Berlin. The generally accepted result of this battle is a draw between RAF and the defenders, both sides recording serious losses.

4 Nov 1944 The Bochum Raid. 749 aircraft operated in a raid against Bochum, the final major bomber raid of the war against this target.

.Battle of Hamburg?

Bomber Command heraldic crest

 

Overview of WWII Bomber Command ops on 550 Sqn

Bomber Command History by the Ridgewell Association

Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire
(Tourism)

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