No. 619 Squadron

No. 619 Squadron badge
ⓘ licence & creditWizanthonyrs / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No._619_Squadron_RAF_badge.pngView source & full licence →
Group
5 Group
Home station
RAF Strubby

About

No. 619 Squadron was formed in April 1943 at RAF Woodhall Spa, raised from a flight of No. 97 Squadron, and flew the Avro Lancaster in No. 5 Group. A busy main-force squadron rather than a famous one, it moved several times among the airfields of Lincolnshire — Coningsby, RAF Dunholme Lodge and Strubby — flying its first operation against Düsseldorf in June 1943.

It took part in the long campaign against Germany until the final weeks of the war, when it turned to minelaying and to ferrying released prisoners of war home. The squadron was disbanded in 1945, and its post-war motto, Ad altiora, meant “to higher things”.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including History of War — No. 619 Squadron (RAF) in the Second World War and Wikipedia: No. 619 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. Flying Officer J B Burnside, the flight engineer on board an Avro Lancaster B Mark III of No. 619 Squadron RAF based at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, checks settings on the control panel from his seat in the cockpit.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Devon S A (Flt Lt) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12289.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Flying Officer P Ingleby, the navigator of an Avro Lancaster B Mark III of No. 619 Squadron RAF based at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, seated at his table in the aircraft.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Devon S A (Flt Lt) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12288.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. An Avro Lancaster B Mark III of No. 619 Squadron RAF, caught in floodlights while running up its engines at night at Coningsby, Lincolnshire.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12354.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Flight Lieutenant P Walmsley of Hull, Yorkshire, the bomb-aimer on board an Avro Lancaster B Mark III of No. 619 Squadron RAF, operating a Mark XIV Stabilised Vector Bombsight at his position in the nose of the aircraft, at Coningsby, Lincolnshire.
ⓘ licence & creditDevon S A (Flt Lt), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12283.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. A loose formation of six Avro Lancaster B Mark IIIs of No. 619 Squadron RAF based at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, flying above clouds.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH18684.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Avro 683 Lancaster. Almost head-on view of Lancaster B Mark III, LM449 ‘PG-H’, of No. 619 Squadron RAF based at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, in flight over the North Sea.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Avro_683_Lancaster._CH21128.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Avro 683 Lancaster. Lancaster B Mark III, LM449 ‘PG-H’, of No. 619 Squadron RAF based at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, in flight.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Avro_683_Lancaster._CH21121.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Avro 683 Lancaster. Three Lancaster B Mark IIIs of No. 619 Squadron RAF, airborne from Coningsby, Lincolnshire. The aircraft in the foreground, LM418 ‘PG-S’, was destroyed in a crash-landing at Woodbridge Emergency Landing Ground after returning from the ill-fated Nuremberg raid of 30/31 March 1944 on two engines. Its crew survived the crash, but were all killed in action later
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Avro_683_Lancaster._CH12352.jpgView source & full licence →
A Lancaster Mk III of No. 619 Squadron on a test flight from RAF Coningsby, 14 February 1944. A Lancaster III of No 619 Squadron, based at Coningsby, 14 February 1944.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Lancaster_Mk_III_of_No._619_Squadron_on_a_test_flight_from_RAF_Coningsby,_14_February_1944._CH12346.jpgView source & full licence →

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'.