No. 106 Squadron

Group
5 Group
Home station
RAF Metheringham

About

No. 106 Squadron served in No. 5 Group, flying the Handley Page Hampden in a training role in the war’s early months before returning to front-line night bombing in 1941. Early in 1942 it became one of the few squadrons to operate the underpowered Avro Manchester, and from May that year took the Avro Lancaster, which it flew until the end of the war. Its main bases were RAF Coningsby and later RAF Metheringham in Lincolnshire.

The squadron’s most famous commander was Guy Gibson, who led it through 1942 and into 1943 before leaving to form No. 617 Squadron for the dams raid. Over the war No. 106 flew well over 5,000 sorties and lost 187 aircraft.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including History of War — No. 106 Squadron (RAF) in the Second World War and Wikipedia: No. 106 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

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. An 8,000-lb HC bomb ('super cookie') is brought by tractor to a waiting Avro Lancaster of No. 106 Squadron RAF in its dispersal at Syerston, Nottinghamshire. The target on this particular night was Stuttgart, Germany.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Clark N S (Fg Off) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12595.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Armourers prepare to load 1,000-lb MC bombs into the bomb-bay of an Avro Lancaster B Mark III of No. 106 Squadron RAF at Metheringham, Lincolnshire, for a major night raid on Frankfurt, Germany. The chalk markings on the bombs indicate that each has been fuzed with a No. 43 air-armed nose pistol, the safety pins of which can be seen hanging from the nose rotor. These will be removed shortly before the crew board the aircraft.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Bellamy W (F/O) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12541.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The damaged fuselage and mid-upper turret of Avro Lancaster B Mark I, R5700 'ZN-G', of No. 106 Squadron RAF based at Elsham Wolds, Lincolnshire, after crash-landing at Hardwick, Norfolk, following an attack by a German fighter over Essen. R5700, was among 60 aircraft taking part in the first "Oboe" raid on Essen on the night of 13/14 January 1943, when it was twice attacked by a Focke Wulf Fw 190 "Wilde Sau" night-fighter shortly after bombing the target. The aircraft was severely damaged, the rear gunner was badly wounded and the mid-upper gunner, Sergeant J B Hood, was killed, but the pilot, Sergeant P N Reed, managed to fly the crippled bomber as far as the USAAF base at Hardwick before executing a successful crash-landing. Three weeks later, Sergeant Reed and his crew failed to return from a raid on Hamburg.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CE3.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Heavily-laden Avro Lancaster B Mark IIIs of No. 106 Squadron RAF taxy from their dispersals to the head of runway 20 at Metheringham, Lincolnshire, for take-off on a raid to Frankfurt, Germany. The resulting attack on 22/23 March 1944 caused extensive destruction to eastern, central and western districts of the city, including the Opera House and the preserved medieval quarter.
ⓘ licence & creditBellamy (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._CH12543.jpgView source & full licence →

Aircraft (2)

SerialCodeTypeFate
ME669 — Avro Lancaster Lost on operations
W4118 ZN-Y Avro Lancaster 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'.