- No. LXI Squadron RAF
Infobox Military Unit
dates= 1917–1919
1937–?
country=United Kingdom
branch=Royal Air Force
motto= "Per purum tonantes" ("Thundering through the clear air")
mascot= TheLincoln Imp , which associates the squadron with the district in which it was re-formed in 1937.
aircraft_fighter=Sopwith Pup
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5
Sopwith Camel
aircraft_bomber=Handley Page Hampden (February 1939-October 1941)Avro Manchester (June 1941-June 1942)Avro Lancaster (April 1942 onwards)No. 61 Squadron, was a squadron of the British
Royal Flying Corps during theFirst World War . It was reformed in 1937 as a bomber squadron of theRoyal Air Force and served in theSecond World War .First World War
No. 61 Squadron was formed at
Rochford ,Essex , on2 August 1917 , as one of the first three single-seater fighter squadrons of the London Air Defence Area intended to counter the daylight air raids. It was equipped with theSopwith Pup .The squadron first went into action on 12th August, when a formation of 10 Gotha bombers came in over the mouth of the Thames. Sixteen Pups of No. 61 Squadron took off to intercept them and succeeded in turning the enemy back, but not before two bombs had been dropped near No. 61's hangars on Rochford Aerodrome. In 1918 the squadron was re-equipped with SE5s, but before the Armistice was signed it began to change over to
Sopwith Camel s. The squadron was disbanded in 1919.econd World War
No. 61 Squadron was re-formed in 1937 as a bomber squadron, and in World War II flew with No. 5 Group,
Bomber Command . The squadron's first operational mission was on25 December 1939 , comprising an armedreconnaissance over theNorth Sea by 11 Hampden bombers. This was followed on 7/8th March 1940 by the first bombing mission, when one Hampden, during a security patrol ofSylt -Borkum -Norderney , bombed an enemydestroyer which opened fire on it.The unit took part in many notable operations including:
*the first bombing raid on a German land target (Hornum, 19/20th March 1940);
*the first big bombing raid on the German mainland (Monchengladbach , 11/12th May 1940);
*the first bombing raid onBerlin (25/26th August 1940);
*the attacks onLe Creusot andPeenemünde (17th October 1942 and 17/18th August 1943, respectively);
*the successive drainings of the Dortmund-Ems and Mitteland Canals (late 1944);
*the attack onWesel just before the crossing of theRhine (23rd/24th March 1945).Beginning operations with Hampdens, the squadron was given Manchesters towards the end of 1941 and later (spring 1942), Lancasters. Four of its Lancasters; ED860 "N-Nan", EE176, JB138, and LL483, each became veterans of more than 100 operational sorties. Records show that in the case of the first three aircraft, the long road to their centuries included participation in the raid on 3rd/4th November 1943, when
Flight Lieutenant William Reid of No. 61 Squadron won theVictoria Cross .In the summer of 1942 No. 61 was twice loaned to
Coastal Command for anti-submarine operations in theBay of Biscay . It was detached from its base inRutland toSt Eval in Cornwall, and on the very first occasion that it operated from there, 17th July, a crew captained by Flight Lieutenant PR Casement (Lancaster I R5724) became the first Bomber Command crew to bring back irrefutable evidence that they had destroyed aU-boat at sea, in the form of a photograph showing the U-boat crew in the water swimming away from their sinking vessel.The squadron's last operational mission in WWII was on 25/26th April 1945, when 10 Lancasters bombed an oil refinery and tankerage at
Vallo (Tonsberg ), and 4 other Lancasters aborted. The last mission beforeVE Day was on6 May 1945 , when the squadron's Lancasters ferried 336 ex-POW s home to the UK from Europe.Bomber Command WWII Bases
*
RAF Hemswell (March 1937-July 1941)
* Detachment at Wick (November/December 1939) for ops with Coastal Command
*RAF North Luffenham (July 1941-October 1941)
*RAF Woolfox Lodge (October 1941-May 1942)
*RAF Syerston (May 1942-November 1943)
* Detached toRAF St Eval on loan to Coastal Command in July and again in August 1942
*RAF Skellingthorpe (November 1943-February 1944)
*RAF Coningsby (February 1944-April 1944)
* RAF Skellingthorpe (April 1944 onwards)Code Letters
During the 1938 Munich crisis, No. 61 was allotted the code letters "LS". In WW2 the squadron's aircraft were coded "QR".
ee also
*
Unterseeboot 852
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