No. 83 Squadron

Group
8 Group
Home station
RAF Wyton

About

No. 83 Squadron went into action on the very first day of the Second World War, sweeping the North Sea for German warships. Based at RAF Scampton in No. 5 Group, it flew the Handley Page Hampden through the war’s early years. On the night of 15 September 1940, during a raid on Antwerp, its 18-year-old wireless operator and air gunner, Flight Sergeant John Hannah, fought a fire in his blazing Hampden until it was out, despite severe burns; he became the youngest airman ever to receive the Victoria Cross.

The squadron briefly took the troublesome Avro Manchester before re-equipping with the Avro Lancaster. In August 1942 it joined the No. 8 Group Pathfinder Force at RAF Wyton as a marker unit, and in 1944 returned to No. 5 Group at RAF Coningsby to mark targets for that group’s independent operations. Carrying the motto “Strike to defend”, it later flew the Avro Lincoln and, in the jet age, became one of the RAF’s first Avro Vulcan squadrons.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including RAF Museum — For Valour: Sergeant John Hannah VC and Wikipedia: No. 83 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. Avro Lancaster Mark I, L7540 'OL-U', of No. 83 Squadron RAF's Conversion Flight undergoes an engine overhaul at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire. Note the armament has been removed from the front turret.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (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._CH6425.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Avro Lancaster B Mark I, R5620 'OL-H', of No. 83 Squadron RAF, leads the queue of aircraft waiting to take off from Scampton, Lincolnshire, on the 'Thousand-Bomber' raid to Bremen, Germany. R5620, flown by Pilot Officer J R Farrow and his crew, was the only aircraft to be lost by the Squadron that night.
ⓘ licence & creditBrock F J (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._CH6092.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. A queue of Avro Lancaster B Mark Is of No. 83 Squadron RAF, waiting to take off from Scampton, Lincolnshire, on the 'Thousand-Bomber' raid to Bremen, Germany. A crewman on the leading Lancaster, R5620 'OL-H', gives the 'V' sign from the emergency exit hatch. This aircraft, flown by Pilot Officer J R Farrow and his crew, failed to return from the raid.
ⓘ licence & creditBrock F J (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._CH6095.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. The crew of a Handley Page Hampden Mark I of No. 83 Squadron RAF leave their aircraft at Scampton, Lincolnshire, on returning from a flight.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH256.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. The shell-torn rear gunner's compartment of Handley Page Hampden Mark I, P1355 'OL-W', of No. 83 Squadron RAF photographed at Scampton, Lincolnshire, on the morning after returning from a night attack on invasion barges at Antwerp, Holland. It was during this sortie that the wireless operator/air gunner of the Hampden's crew, Flight Sergeant John Hannah, earned the award of the Victoria Cross for his bravery when the aircraft was severely damaged and set on fire.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH1347.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Bomber Command Lancaster R5610/OL-G of No. 83 Squadron at Scampton, July/August 1942.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Bomber_Command_CH6061.jpgView source & full licence →
A Royal Air Force Vulcan B Mark 2 aircraft takes off during Air Fete '84 at Mildenhall AFB.
ⓘ licence & creditTSGT JOSE LOPEZ JR. / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Vulcan_B_Mark_2.JPEGView source & full licence →
Cropped version of Avro Vulcan XL319, North East Aircraft Museum, Sunderland.
ⓘ licence & creditDraco2008 from UK; Cropped by Sunderland06 / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avro_Vulcan_cropped1.jpgView source & full licence →
Cropped version of Avro Vulcan XL319, North East Aircraft Museum, Sunderland.
ⓘ licence & creditDraco2008 from UK; Cropped by E / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avro_Vulcan_cropped.jpgView source & full licence →
A Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan Display Team Vulcan B. Mk 2 aircraft performs during Air Fete '85.
ⓘ licence & creditSgt. David S. Nolan, US Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avro_Vulcan_Bomber_RAF.JPEGView source & full licence →

Operations flown

Aircraft (2)

SerialCodeTypeFate
P1355 — Handley Page Hampden Unknown
R5743 OL-K 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'.