No. 76 Squadron

Group
4 Group
Home station
RAF Holme-on-Spalding-Moor

About

No. 76 Squadron reformed on 1 May 1941 at RAF Linton-on-Ouse as the second squadron to fly the Handley Page Halifax, joining the newly created No. 4 Group. It kept the Halifax to the end of the war and began bombing operations in mid-1942. In June 1943 it moved to RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor in Yorkshire, part of a reshuffle that handed the better pre-war stations to the new Canadian No. 6 Group.

For much of 1942 and into 1943 the squadron was commanded by Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire, one of Bomber Command’s most celebrated leaders, who later won the Victoria Cross with No. 617 Squadron. With the rest of No. 4 Group, No. 76 passed to Transport Command at the war’s end, re-equipping with the Douglas Dakota.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including History of War — No. 76 Squadron (RAF) in the Second World War and Wikipedia: No. 76 Squadron RAF. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

CWGC gravestones in the Old Cemetery of Roermond, Limburg, the Netherlands. Three UK and Canadian members of 76 Squadron, RAF, who died in 1943.
ⓘ licence & creditJanssenfrank / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Military_graves_Roermond.jpgView source & full licence →
Handley Page Halifax B Mk I, s/n L9530, MP-L of the No. 76 Squadron RAF, Summer 1941
ⓘ licence & creditMartin Čížek / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halifax_76_Squadron.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gauchie_J_MC.JPGView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Den_Burg_-_cemetery-_A.Abrahams_-_Air_Bomber_-_22-01-1944.JPGView source & full licence →
Commonwealth War Graves in the Roman Catholic churchyard of Kapel in 't Zand, Roermond, the Netherlands. In the foreground are the graves of six members of 76 Squadron RAF, who died in 31 August 1943. In the shade on the right are the graves of two members of 69 Squadron RAF who died in 23 January 1945, and one member of 419 Squadron RCAF, who died on 25 June 1945.
ⓘ licence & creditDqfn13 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Commonwealth_War_Graves,_Roermond.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. Handley Page Halifax Mark I Series 1, L9530 ‘MP-L’, of No 76 Squadron RAF undergoing maintenance at Middleton St George, County Durham. L9530 was shot down while attacking Magdeburg on 15 August 1941.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Daventry B J (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH3393.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Following their briefing, Handley Page Halifax crews of No. 76 Squadron RAF board their transports at Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, Yorkshire, to be driven to their dispersals in preparation for a raid on Kassel, Germany. This raid, on 22/23 October 1943, was the most devastating delivered on a German city since the 'firestorm' raid on Hamburg in the previous July. Of the 569 aircraft used in the attack, 43 were lost, of which 25 were Halifaxes.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH11401.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Handley Page Halifax B Mark II Series I (Special), DK148 'MP-G' "Johnnie the Wolf", of No. 76 Squadron RAF rests at Holme-on-Spalding Moor, Yorkshire, after crash-landing on return from an operation to Essen on the night of 25/26 July 1943. The propeller from the damaged port-inner engine flew off shortly after the bombing run, tearing a large hole in the fuselage. The mid-upper gunner immediately baled out, but the pilot, Flight Lieutenant C M Shannon, regained control of the aircraft and managed to bring the rest of the crew back to Holme, although DK148 was subsequently written off. Two weeks later, Shannon and his crew failed to return from a night operation over Mannheim.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CE91.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Handley Page Halifax B Mark V Series I (Specials) of No. 76 Squadron RAF lined up at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH10226.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Bomber Command No 76 Squadron Halifax, W7805/MP-M, being bombed-up at Linton-on-Ouse, 3 April 1943.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Trievnor J (Fg Off) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Handley_Page_Halifax_-_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945_Bomber_Command_CH9138.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bowkett_RHG.JPGView source & full licence →
Headstone of Sgt Cecil Austin in Headington Cemetery, Oxfordshire. Austin served in 76 Squadron RAF and died on 13 August 1941.
ⓘ licence & creditMotacilla / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Austin_C_Headington_CWGC.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Handley Page Hp.57 Halifax. Halifax Mark I Series 1, L9530 ‘MP-L’, of No. 76 Squadron RAF based at Middleton-St-George, County Durham, in flight.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Handley_Page_Hp.57_Halifax._CH3378.jpgView source & full licence →
Handley Page Halifax Mark I of 76 Squadron
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Handley_Page_Hp.57_Halifax._CH3378.2.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : Handley Page Halifax Mark I Series 1, L9530 'MP-L', of No 76 Squadron RAF undergoing maintenance at Middleton St George, County Durham. L9530 was shot down while attacking Magdeburg on 15 August 1941.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:76_Squadron_Halifax_1941_IWM_CH_3393.jpgView source & full licence →

Operations flown

Aircraft (2)

SerialCodeTypeFate
LW647 MP-W Handley Page Halifax Lost on operations
LW696 MP-X Handley Page Halifax Lost on operations

No service records linked to this squadron yet. Aircraft, crews and sorties will appear here soon.

Further reading & sources

External sites — facts only are reused here; their text and images remain their authors'.