No. 38 Squadron

No. 38 Squadron RAF was formed on 1 April 1916 at Thetford, disbanded after the First World War, and reformed in September 1935 at RAF Mildenhall before moving to RAF Marham in 1937, where it received the Vickers Wellington — the aircraft it would fly exclusively throughout the Second World War. When war began the squadron was assigned to No. 3 Group, Bomber Command, and opened its offensive operations in December 1939, going on to carry out night raids against Channel ports, Ruhr industrial targets, and other objectives across occupied Europe through the summer of 1940. In November 1940 the unit deployed to Egypt, thereafter operating under Middle East Command and eventually No. 205 Group, switching from strategic bombing to anti-shipping work in the Mediterranean theatre. By early 1942 crews had trained in night torpedo attacks, combining radar-equipped Wellington “Snoopingtons” that located and illuminated enemy convoys with torpedo-armed “Torpingtons” that delivered the strike at sea level — a technique the squadron employed with considerable effect against Axis supply routes to North Africa. From 1943 the squadron’s work broadened further to encompass mine-laying, anti-submarine patrols, maritime reconnaissance, and supply drops to Yugoslav Partisans, before reverting to anti-shipping strikes off northern Italy in early 1945 with the Wellington XIV. The squadron’s motto, “Ante lucem” — Before the dawn — reflected both its night-flying heritage and its long years of offensive patrols across the dark waters of the Mediterranean.