Country United Kingdom Role Bomber | Branch Royal Air Force | |
Active 25 Nov 1943 – 31 Oct 1945 Motto(s) Latin: Per Ignem Vincimus
(Translation: "Through fire we conquer") Squadron Badge heraldry In front of flames of fire a sword erect point upwards.
The badge is symbolic of the squadron's power to force its way through barrage of fire and fighter opposition to drop its bombs. It can also be taken as symbolic of the squadron's raids with both incendiary and high-explosive bombs. | ||
No. 550 Squadron RAF was a heavy bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II.
Contents
History
No. 550 squadron was formed at RAF Waltham (near Grimsby), Lincolnshire on 25 November 1943 from 'C' Flight of 100 Squadron. Equipped with Avro Lancasters, they began operating in the same month, as part of No. 1 Group RAF. On 26/27 November, 8 of their Lancasters were dispatched to make bombing runs over Berlin; 7 succeeded, with the other failing to return after the mission. In early 1944, it was moved to RAF North Killingholme, Lincolnshire where it continued operations over German targets until May 1945, when it began dropping food over the Netherlands as a relieve effort as part of Operation Manna. The squadron completed 3,582 operational sorties with the Lancaster with a loss of 59 aircraft. It was disbanded at North Killingholme on 31 October 1945., the same day that North Killinghome closed.
Operation Banquet
Before standing up as an operational bomber unit 550 Squadron was allocated to the Air Fighting Development Unit under 'Operation Banquet' anti-invasion plans.
Notable aircraft
Three of the Lancasters that flew with 550 Squadron managed to survive one hundred operations or more, and one nearly did so: