1 Group
Page 39
Mishap at North Killingholme. 550 Squadron’s Q-Queenie went off the perimeter track and became bogged down as the squadron was about to depart for Caen on the evening of July 7, 1944. (550 Squadron Association)
Today the runways are shorter and the aircraft smaller, but Wickenby is still a thriving airfield. One of the wartime hangars is still used for aviation purposes and, most significantly, there is small museum and visitors’ centre, staffed by volunteers, who keep the memories and spirit of Wickenby alive. The airfield has a striking memorial, topped by a figure of Icarus, to all the 1,080 men who flew from Wickenby and never returned.
THE SQUADRONS
12 SQUADRON: Flew throughout the war with 1 Group after its return from France in the summer of 1940, initially from Binbrook and later from Wickenby. Operated Battles, Wellingtons and Lancasters and lost a total of 189 aircraft. Later flew Lincolns, Canberras, Vulcans and Buccaneers before becoming a Tornado squadron. At the time of writing operates Tornado GR4s from Lossiemouth.
100 SQUADRON: Flew Lancasters from Waltham from December 1942 until April 1945 before moving to Elsham Wolds. Lost 113 Lancasters. In the post-war years flew Lincolns, Canberras, Victors, Canberras again before becoming a Hawk squadron. Currently operates from Leeming in Yorkshire.
101 SQUADRON: Served with both 2 and 3 Groups before joining 1 Group. Flew Wellingtons and Lancasters from Holme-on-Spalding Moor before moving to Ludford Magna where it operated ABC-equipped Lancasters until the war ended. Lost one Wellington and 147 Lancasters in 1 Group service. After flying Lincolns, 101 became the RAF’s first jet bomber squadron when it converted to Canberras from Binbrook. Later operated Vulcans before converting to VC10 tankers, which it currently flies from Brize Norton .
103 SQUADRON: Operated with 1 Group from the summer of 1940 until the war ended, initially from Newton and from 1941 at Elsham Wolds. The only 1 Group squadron to fly Halifaxes on operations, it also operated Battles, Wellingtons and Lancasters and lost a total of 201 aircraft, the highest number in 1 Group. Disbanded in November 1945 when it was renumbered 57 Squadron, 103 was reformed in Germany in 1954 where it flew Canberras before becoming a helicopter squadron, operating in the Middle and Far East before being finally disbanded in August 1975.
142 SQUADRON: Arrived at Binbrook after service in France in July 1940, it flew Battles and Wellington from both Binbrook and Waltham before the bulk of the squadron was transferred to the Middle East. Later operated as a Mosquito squadron. Lost 51 aircraft. Disbanded October 1944 only to be reformed briefly the following year. The squadron was reformed once again in 1959 as 142 Strategic Missile Squadron at Coleby Grange in Lincolnshire and was equipped with Thor missiles before being finally disbanded in May 1963.
150 SQUADRON: Also flew in France before joining 1 Group. 150 flew from Newton, Snaith and, briefly, Kirmington before being transferred to the Middle East. Rejoined 1 Group as a Lancaster squadron, flying from Fiskerton and Hemswell. Lost 58 aircraft. Disbanded November 1945.
153 SQUADRON: Reformed as Lancaster squadron at Kirmington in October 1944 after service in the Middle East, it later operated from Scampton until the end of the war. Lost 22 Lancasters. Disbanded September 1945.
166 SQUADRON: Reformed in 1 Group at Kirmington in January 1943 after service in 4 Group, it flew exclusively from Kirmington. Lost 39 Wellingtons and 114 Lancasters. Disbanded November 1945.
170 SQUADRON: Reformed at Kelstern in October 1944, it operated Lancasters from Dunholme Lodge and Hemswell. Lost 14 aircraft. Disbanded November 1945.
199 SQUADRON: Formed in November 1942, 199 flew Wellingtons from Blyton and Ingham before transferring in 3 Group in June 1943. Lost 12 aircraft while with 1 Group. Later served with 100 Group before being disbanded in July 1945. Reformed in the early 1950s and flew Lincolns and Valiants before being disbanded again in 1958.
300 (MASOVIAN) SQUADRON: Formed in 1940, the Polish squadron which operated with 1 Group throughout the war. The last squadron in Bomber Command to fly Wellingtons operationally, it also flew Battles and Lancasters and served at Swinderby, Hemswell, Ingham and finally Faldingworth. Lost 83 aircraft. Disbanded January 1947.
301 (POMERANIAN) SQUADRON: Formed at Swinderby alongside 301, it flew Battles and Wellingtons before moving to Hemswell. Disbanded in 1943 because of a shortage of Polish crews. Lost 29 aircraft. Later reformed as 301 (Special Flight) as part of 138 Squadron. Finally disbanded December 1946.
304 (SILESIAN) SQUADRON: Formed in August 1940, it flew Wellingtons from Syerston and Lindholme before being transferred to Coastal Command in 1942. Lost 18 aircraft. Later flew with Transport Command and was disbanded in December 1946.
305 (ZIEMIA WIELKOPOLSKA) SQUADRON: Formed alongside 304, it flew Wellingtons from Syerston, Lindholme, Hemswell and Ingham before being transferred to the 2nd Tactical Air Force. Lost 30 aircraft. Disbanded January 1947.
458 SQUADRON RAAF: The very first Australian squadron within Bomber Command operated briefly from Holme-on-Spalding Moor before being transferred to the Middle East. 458 lost three Wellingtons during its short stay at Holme. Disbanded at Gibraltar June 1945.
460 SQUADRON RAAF: One of eight Australian units to serve in Bomber Command, 460 established itself as one of the outstanding of all wartime bomber squadrons. It was formed in March 1942 and flew Wellingtons and Lancasters from Breighton before transferring (largely by Horsa glider) to Binbrook in the summer of 1943. It lost 200 aircraft, the highest of any Australian squadron in Bomber Command. Disbanded October 1945.
550 SQUADRON: Formed at Waltham in November 1943, it flew Lancasters from there until moving to North Killingholme in January 1944. Lost 73 aircraft. Disbanded October 1945.
576 SQUADRON: Formed from 103’s C Flight at Elsham Wolds in November 1943, it flew from there until the autumn of 1944 when it moved to Fiskerton. Losses amounted to 75 Lancasters. Disbanded September 1945.
625 SQUADRON: One of only two squadrons to fly from Kelstern, 625 was formed there in October 1943 and flew 188 operations from there before moving to Scampton for the last few weeks of the war. Lost 74 Lancasters. Disbanded October 1945.
626 SQUADRON: Flew from Wickenby alongside 12 Squadron from November 1943 until the end of the war. Lost 60 Lancasters. Disbanded October 1945.
Chapter 25
1 Group Today
All but one of its wartime airfields have gone and only three of the squadrons that flew Lancasters from Lincolnshire remaining in being, but 1 Group itself remains an integral part of the modern Royal Air Force.
When the war ended there was a major re-organisation within the RAF but 1 Group remained in being at its wartime headquarters at Bawtry and was to oversee Bomber Command operations until the creation of Strike Command in 1968.
The immediate post-war years saw a major reduction in the size and scale of the bomber force with the aptly-named Lincoln gradually replacing Lancasters before it, too, gave way to the first of the new jet-age bombers, the English Electric Canberra.
Britain’s nuclear defence force also fell under the aegis of 1 Group, with the new V-bomber force of Valiants, Victors and, especially, Vulcans providing the back-bone of the country’s strike force. 1 Group also had responsibility for introduction of the American-built Thor missile into Britain’s defences. These were based at 10 airfields, including Ludford Magna, Hemswell and Breighton, all former 1 Group stations, while the nuclear warheads for the missiles were stored in great secrecy at Faldingworth along with the nuclear weapons for the V-bomber force. Ten RAF squadrons were reactivated to operate the missiles, each adding the initials SM - strategic missile – to their squadron code. Hemswell was occupied by 97 (SM) Squadron, Ludford by 104 and Breighton by 240. Each squadron was equipped with three missiles, stored horizontally in large concrete bunkers, most of which still remain today. Hemswell was also used as the delivery hub for the missiles, each flown in on USAF C-124 Globemasters. By the summer of 1963 the missiles had become obsolete and Hemswell was once again used, this time to fly them b
ack to the United States.
During this period 1 Group was also responsible for the Bloodhound missile defence system, which was set up to primarily protect the V-bomber bases, including Scampton, Waddington and Finningley. Dunholme Lodge, which had such a brief life within wartime 1 Group, was re-activated to take some of the missiles while others were based at Breighton and at Misson, near Bawtry, which had been used during the war as a 1 Group bombing range.
With the creation of Strike Command in 1968, 1 Group also assumed responsibility for the RAF’s jet fighters, including the Javelins and later the Lightning force at Binbrook before it was disbanded in the late 1980s, and Binbrook closed.
From its headquarters at Bawtry 1 Group was to oversee several major overseas operations, including Malaya and Suez, and it was 1 Group Vulcans which carried out the epic Black Buck raids on Port Stanley during the Falklands War in 1983.
In 1984 Bawtry Hall closed and 1 Group headquarters moved first to Upavon in Wiltshire and later to Benson in Oxfordshire, along the way absorbing the operational duties of 2 Group when that was disbanded in 1996, at which point the headquarters moved to High Wycombe, where they remain today. In 2000 there was another major restructuring of the RAF and 1 Group assumed its present role of overseeing Britain’s air defences with quick reaction alert aircraft being on permanent readiness at Leuchars in Scotland and Coningsby in Lincolnshire. Its aircraft have also seen service in operations in the Gulf, the Balkans, Afghanistan and, most recently, Libya. In 2007 the RAF underwent another major reorganisation with Strike Command and Personnel and Training Command coming together under a single Air Command.
The links with wartime 1 Group still remain. Scampton is still operational and currently houses the Red Arrows display team, although its future is, at the time of writing, clouded with uncertainty. And three of the wartime squadrons which flew 1 Group Lancasters from Lincolnshire are still operational – 12 Squadron with the GR4 Tornado at Lossiemouth, 100 Squadron which flies Hawks in a variety of roles from Leeming in North Yorkshire and 101 Squadron, which operates VC10 tankers from Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Bawtry Hall, 1 Group’s headquarters for 44 years, is now a busy conference and training centre.
1 Group itself will continue to be a key component of Britain’s air defences and strike capability for the foreseeable future. It still retains its original panther’s head badge and its motto – Swift to Attack.
On Hallowed Ground
Close to what was one of the runways at Fiskerton stands a memorial stone to the men of 49 Squadron (5 Group) and 576 Squadron (1 Group) which flew from the airfield during the war. Flanking it are two stones carrying individual dedications. This is one of them dedicated to 576 Squadron’s aircrew killed flying from Fiskerton.
LISTEN TO THE WIND
Stranger – pause here a little while,
And listen to the West wind’s sigh,
With it’s tales of long-gone men –
Earth shall not see their like again.
Stand by this stone and lend an ear,
And I’ll show you ghosts of yesteryear;
The windsock’s creak, the cold wind’s moan,
Long-dead men crowd around – we’re not alone.
Look on this empty, lonely place,
Do the shadows, unseen, still cross my face?
Listen! Far-off thunder – or a Merlin’s roar,
Borne on the wind, from Time’s remoter shore.
Abandoned, quiet, here I lie,
Time stands still, though years roll by;
Runways broken, dispersals gone,
The only sound the skylark’s song.
Half a hundred years have passed,
Half a century since I saw them last;
Lancasters, black against the sky,
Aircrews young, so many soon to die.
They came from England and far distant shores,
Volunteers, each one, to defend Liberty’s just cause;
These fractured runways know how many went,
Silent witnesses to Youth’s blood, spent.
I was created from the very earth for which they fought,
My rich, dark soil with their sacrifice they bought,
In Lincoln Cathedral, yonder, their names are to be found
And know this – by their blood, you stand on hallowed ground.
Let the tangled weeds that cover me remain,
Shrouding my memories of hope and pain;
And, as I return slowly to the land,
Let this proud stone in perpetual homage stand.
So, stranger, continue now upon your way,
But forget not those who – it seems but yesterday –
Gave all their tomorrows that you might live,
For your Freedom they gave all they had to give.
Cedric Keith St George Roberts, May 1995
Mascots were an essential part of many 1 Group crews and this one was no exception. ‘Ethel’ was an elephant knitted for this 550 Squadron crew by one of the barmaids in the Cross Keys public house in South Killingholme. On the photograph are: back row( left to right) Ron Digby (pilot), Johnny Walker (flight engineer) Ernie Lewis (navigator); front row, Don Crabtree (wireless operator) James Perrigo, holding ‘Ethel’ (mid-upper gunner) and Ray Hagar RCAF (rear gunner). Missing from the photograph is the bomb aimer, Sgt A. McLeod RCAF. The crew and ‘Ethel’ safely completed their tour at North Killingholme. (Brian Perrigo, via 550 Squadron Association)
Bibliography
Ralph Barker – The Thousand Plan, Airlife
Ron Blake, Mike Hodgson, Bill Taylor – Airfields of Lincolnshire since 1912, Midland Counties
Chaz Bowyer – Wellington at War, Ian Allen
Don Charlwood – No Moon Tonight, Goodhall Publications
Bill Chorley – Bomber Command Losses (Volumes 1 to 8), Midland Counties
Alan Cooper – Air Battles of the Ruhr, Airlife – – Bombers over Berlin, William Kimber
Oliver Clutton-Brock – Massacre over the Marne, Patrick Stephens
Pat Cunningham – Bomb on the Red Markers, Countryside Books
Roberts Dunstan and Burton Graham – The Sand and the Sky, Robertson and Mullins
Jonathan Falconer – RAF Bomber Airfields of World War Two, Ian Allen
Sean Feast, Carried on the Wind, Woodfield Publishing
Sid Finn – Black Swan, Newton – – Lincolnshire Air War 1939-45, Aero Litho
Peter Firkins – Strike and Return: 460 RAAF Heavy Bomber Squadron, Australian Military History Publications
Norman Franks – Claims to Fame: the Lancaster, Arms and Armour
Leslie Frith – What a Way to Win a War, Swann
Bruce Halpenny – Action Stations 2 : Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands, Patrick Stephens – – Action Stations 4: Military Airfields of Yorkshire, Patrick Stephens
Max Hastings – Bomber Command, Michael Joseph – – All Hell Let Loose, HarperPress
Harry Holmes – Avro Lancaster: The Definitive Record, Airlife
Arthur Hoyle – Hughie Edwards VC, The Fortunate Airman, Australian Military History Publications
Mike Ingham – The Air Force Memorials of Lincolnshire, Midland Counties
Richard Knott – Black Night for Bomber Command, Pen & Sword
Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt – The Bomber Command War Diaries, Penguin
Martin Middlebrook – The Berlin Raids, Viking
– – The Nuremburg Raid, Allen Lane
– – The Battle of Hamburg, Allen Lane
– – The Peenemunde Raid, Allen Lane
Philip Moyes – Bomber Squadrons of the RAF, McDonald & Jane’s
Patrick Otter – Maximum Effort (Volumes 1, 2 and 3), Archive, Manor, Hutton Press
– – Lincolnshire Airfields in the Second World War, Countryside Books
– – Yorkshire Airfields in the Second World War, Countryside Books
Brian Rapier – Halifax at War, Ian Allen
I
an Reid – To Fly Over Waltham, Ashridge Press
Stewart Scott – Airfield Focus: Ludford Magna
– – Airfield Focus: Swinderby
Stewart Scott & John Jackson – Offence to Defence: the History of RAF Binbrook, GMS Enterprises
Eric Taylor – Operation Millenium , Robert Hale
Dennis West – To Strive and Not to Yield, Woodfield Publishing
Jim Wright – On Wings of War: A History of 166 Squadron, 166 Squadron Association
Adam Zamoyski – The Forgotten Few, John Murray
Index
Advanced Air Striking Force
‘Airborne Cigar’ (ABC) Development
Air Transport Auxiliary
Airey, Sgt Les
Airspeed Oxford
Allison, John
Arbuthnot, G/Capt Terrence
Ashcroft, F/O Eric
Ashplant, W/O George
Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
Augsburg
Avro Anson
Avro Lancaster
Avro Lincoln
Avro Manchester