No. 166 Squadron

Group
1 Group
Home station
RAF Kirmington

About

No. 166 Squadron reformed on 27 January 1943 at RAF Kirmington in Lincolnshire, built up from crews and equipment left behind when other squadrons departed for North Africa. Flying the Vickers Wellington in No. 1 Group, it went into action almost at once, raiding Lorient just two days after forming.

In September 1943 it converted to the Avro Lancaster, which it flew for the rest of the war, taking part in many of the main force’s major attacks on Germany as well as in minelaying — known in the trade as “gardening”. Several of its Lancasters became veterans of a hundred operations apiece. The squadron remained at Kirmington throughout and was disbanded there at the end of 1945.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including History of War — No. 166 Squadron (RAF) in the Second World War and Wikipedia: No. 166 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

Commonwealth War Graves of seven Allied airmen in the Protestant cemetery of Middelharnis in South Holland, the Netherlands. All served in 166 Squadron RAF, and died on 20 December 1943. Four were members of the RAF Volunteer Reserve. The other three were from the RAAF, RCAF and RNZAF.
ⓘ licence & creditNannix / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Commonwealth_war_graves_-_The_Netherlands_-_Middelharnis_Protestant_cemetery.jpgView source & full licence →
Commonwealth War Graves of five RAF airmen in the General Cemetery of Hengelo in Overijssel, the Netherlands. All served in 166 Squadron RAF, and died in 28 May 1943. Four were members of the RAF Volunteer Reserve.
ⓘ licence & creditNannix / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Commonwealth_war_graves_-_The_Netherlands_-_Hengelo_(Overijssel)_general_cemetery.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cemetery_Epe-_T.W._Boyce.JPGView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cemetery_Epe-_T.M._Ross.JPGView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cemetery_Epe-_S._Alldis.JPGView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. LAC E Turner paints the 65th 'raid completed' symbol onto the nose of Avro Lancaster B Mark III, ED731 'AS-T2' "Dante's Daughter", of No. 166 Squadron RAF at Kirmington, Lincolnshire, following the aircraft's return from a raid on Berlin on the night of 15/16 February 1944. ED731 started its operational service with No. 103 Squadron RAF in March 1943, being transferred to 166 Squadron in September of that year. It completed more than 70 Sorties before being lost on the last major Bomber Command raid on Berlin on 24/25 March 1944. The artwork acknowledges a DFC awarded to the pilot and three ice creams among the bomb symbols, indicating raids on Italian targets.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CE126.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Bomber Command The crew of an RAF Air/Sea Rescue launch haul in a dinghy with two exhausted survivors from a No 166 Squadron Wellington, HE862/AS-L, which ditched off the French coast after developing engine trouble on its way to Mannheim on 16 April 1943. Flying Officer R Lord (facing camera) and Flying Officer E Hadingham (out of sight) drifted for five days before being picked up. They survived on rainwater, 18 Horlicks tablets and a bar of chocolate between them.
ⓘ licence & creditBridge B (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Bomber_Command_CH9389.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cemetery_Epe-_M.A._Monks.JPGView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cemetery_Epe-_J.B._Carter.JPGView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cemetery_Epe-_H._Rothwell.JPGView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cemetery_Epe-_A.B._Leonard.JPGView source & full licence →
CWGC gravestone for Flight Sergeant Peter William Youngman, RAF, located in the New town cemetery of {{w|North Walsham
ⓘ licence & creditKolforn (Kolforn) I'd appreciate if you could mail me (Kolforn@gmail.com) if you want to use this picture out of the Wikimedia project scope. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transView source & full licence →

Operations flown

Aircraft (5)

SerialCodeTypeFate
BJ973 AS-J Vickers Wellington Lost on operations
ME624 AS-X Avro Lancaster Lost on operations
ME638 AS-B Avro Lancaster Lost on operations
ME686 AS-V Avro Lancaster Lost on operations
ND798 AS-C 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'.