Country United Kingdom Bomber Consolidated Liberator | Branch Royal Air Force | |
Active 18 August 1943 – 31 May 1946 Motto(s) Latin: Liberamus Per Caerula
(Translation: "We liberate through tropical skies") Squadron Badge heraldry An elephant's head affronté | ||
No. 355 Squadron RAF was a long-range bomber squadron based in British India from August 1943 until it disbanded in May 1946. The squadron was equipped with Consolidated Liberator aircraft.
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. The squadron mounted numerous raids on the infamous Burma-Siam railway along with other important targets such as bridges, airfields, and marshalling yards. 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.
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.
After the war, 355 squadron was engaged in the dropping of 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, returning to Salbani (west of Calcutta) shortly before it disbanded on 31 May 1946.