No. 16 Squadron

No. 16 Operational Training Unit was formed at RAF Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire on 8 April 1940. It began by training crews on the Handley Page Hampden and Hereford, moving on to the Vickers Wellington and, later in the war, to the de Havilland Mosquito as it prepared crews for the Light Night Striking Force. The unit used satellite airfields including Barford St John and Croughton and continued in the training role into the post-war period.