No. 10 Squadron

No. 10 Squadron RAF was formed on 1 January 1915 at Farnborough and, after disbanding in 1919, was reformed as a night bombing squadron in 1928 before joining No. 4 Group of RAF Bomber Command at RAF Dishforth in 1937, where it equipped with the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. The squadron flew its first operation of the Second World War on 8 September 1939 — a leaflet drop over Germany — and in June 1940 carried out some of the earliest RAF raids on Italy, striking Turin and Genoa. In December 1941 the Whitleys were replaced by the Handley Page Halifax, in which the squadron flew the bulk of its heavy bombing campaign over occupied Europe and Germany. The unit relocated to RAF Melbourne in Yorkshire in August 1942, which remained its base until the end of the war in Europe; from there it flew the Halifax Mk.I, Mk.II and Mk.III on operations ranging from the Ruhr industrial targets to distant cities such as Magdeburg. In July 1942 a Middle East detachment from the squadron formed the nucleus of No. 462 Squadron RAAF at RAF Aqir in the British Mandate of Palestine. On 7 May 1945 the squadron transferred to Transport Command and converted to the Douglas Dakota, ending its long service as a Bomber Command unit. Known informally as “Shiny Ten”, the squadron carries the Latin motto Rem acu tangere — “To hit the mark”.