No. 61 Squadron

Group: 5 Group
Home station: RAF Skellingthorpe

About

No. 61 Squadron served throughout the war in No. 5 Group and became closely associated with the city of Lincoln. It opened its account flying the Handley Page Hampden on a North Sea reconnaissance on Christmas Day 1939, converted to the Avro Manchester in 1941, and then took the Avro Lancaster, which it flew for the rest of the war. Several of its Lancasters became veterans of more than a hundred operations apiece.

The squadron moved often between the airfields of the East Midlands, among them RAF Hemswell, RAF Syerston, RAF Skellingthorpe and RAF Coningsby, sharing the long and costly main-force campaign against Germany. It carried the resounding motto “Thundering through the clear air”.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including No. 50 & No. 61 Squadrons Association — History of No. 61 Squadron and Wikipedia: No. 61 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

RAF Bomber Command 1940 HU104630 — RAF Bomber Command 1940 Hampden bomber crews of No. 61 Squadron at Hemswell putting on flying kit, 16 October 1940.

ⓘ licence & credit
Press Agency photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_Bomber_Command_1940_HU104630.jpgView source & full licence →

Lancaster Mark II at RAF Syerston WWII IWM ATP 12118C — IWM caption : Lancaster Mark II, DS604 QR-W, of No. 61 Squadron RAF, on the ground at Syerston, Nottinghamshire. DS604 later joined No. 115 Squadron RAF and was lost over Frankfurt on 10/11 April 1943

ⓘ licence & credit
Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lancaster_Mark_II_at_RAF_Syerston_WWII_IWM_ATP_12118C.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. CH10675 — Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. WAAF and other ground crew members wave off Pilot Officer W H Eager RCAF and his crew in Avro Lancaster B Mark I, W4236 'QR-K', of No. 61 Squadron RAF, as they begin their take-off run from Syerston, Nottinghamshire, for a night raid on Hamburg, Germany. This was W4236's 74th mission, from which it returned safely: it was lost, however, during a raid on Mannheim on 10 August 1943.

ⓘ licence & credit
Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH10675.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. CH12355 — Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Avro Lancaster B Mark I, DV397 'QR-W', of No. 61 Squadron RAF taxying past the windsock at Coningsby, Lincolnshire. DV398 was lost during a raid on Berlin, Germany on 24/25 March 1944.

ⓘ licence & credit
Stanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12355.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. CH10714 — Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The crew of an Avro Lancaster B Mark I of No. 61 Squadron RAF walk towards their aircraft at Syerston, Nottinghamshire, before taking off for a raid on Hamburg, Germany.

ⓘ licence & credit
Bellamy W (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH10714.jpgView source & full licence →

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. CH10678 — Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The air and ground crew of Avro Lancaster B Mark I, W4236 'QR-K', of 'A' Flight, No. 61 Squadron RAF, grouped by the nose of the aircraft at Syerston, Nottinghamshire, after it had completed 70 operational flights. Air crew, standing) left to right: Flying Officer F L Hewish, air bomber; Pilot Officer W H Eager RCAF, pilot and captain; Sergeant F R Stone, wireless operator; Sergeant L S Vanner, rear gunner; Sergeant H T Petts, navigator; Sergeant F R Sharrard, mid-upper gunner; Sergeant L Lawrence, flight engineer. Ground crew, (sitting) left to right: Leading Aircraftsman W A Long, flight mechanic (engines); Corporal C Bowyer, fitter; Leading Aircraftsman J Blackwood, flight mechanic (airframe).

ⓘ licence & credit
Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH10678.jpgView source & full licence →

61 Squadron RAF Lancaster sinks U-boat Jul 1942 IWM HU 91243 — IWM caption : Photograph looking back over the starboard wing of a Lancaster of No 61 Squadron, Bomber Command, after an attack on U-751 in the Bay of Biscay, 17 July 1942. The U-boat had been attacked and crippled by a Whitley of No 502 Squadron earlier, before being finally sunk by depth charges dropped by the Lancaster.

ⓘ licence & credit
Royal Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:61_Squadron_RAF_Lancaster_sinks_U-boat_Jul_1942_IWM_HU_91243.jpgView source & full licence →

Aircraft (2)

Serial	Code	Type	Fate
EE176	QR-M	Avro Lancaster	Survived the war
LM360	QR-O	Avro Lancaster	Written off (non-op)

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

No. 61 Squadron

About

Photographs

Aircraft (2)

Further reading & sources