No. 97 Squadron — Straits Settlements

Group
8 Group
Home station
RAF Bourn

About

No. 97 Squadron served in No. 5 Group and took its nickname, “Straits Settlements”, from a large gift of money raised in the Malay Peninsula that helped buy its Avro Manchester aircraft in 1941. It soon exchanged the troubled Manchester for the Avro Lancaster, becoming one of the early Lancaster squadrons, and moved to RAF Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire.

On 17 April 1942 six of its Lancasters joined No. 44 Squadron in the audacious low-level daylight raid on the MAN diesel works at Augsburg, and that summer the squadron took part in the first thousand-bomber raids on Cologne, Essen and Bremen. In April 1943 it moved to RAF Bourn and joined No. 8 Group as a Pathfinder squadron, its hand-picked crews marking targets for the main force. The squadron’s motto, “Achieve your aim”, suited the role exactly.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including RAF Pathfinders Archive — 97 Squadron at Woodhall Spa and Wikipedia: No. 97 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

ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Den_Burg_-_cemetery-_W.C._Gadsby_-_Radio-operator_-_RAF_-_14-02-1944.JPGView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Den_Burg_-_cemetery-_L.N.L._Laver_-_Air_gunner_-_RAF_-_14-01-1944.JPGView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Den_Burg_-_cemetery-_C.J._Skinner_-_Air_gunner_-_RAF_-_14-02-1944.JPGView source & full licence →
Seven Commonwealth War Graves in the General Cemetery of Haarlemmermeer Zwanenburg in the Netherlands. They are three men of the RAF Volunteer Reserve, two of the RAAF and two of the RCAF. All seven served in 97 Squadron, and died on 31 January 1944.
ⓘ licence & creditNannix / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Commonwealth_war_graves_-_The_Netherlands_-_Haarlemmermeer_Zwanenburg_general_cemetery.jpgView source & full licence →
Lancasters at low level during raid "on a German engineering facility in October 1942"
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force Official Photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Augsburg_raid.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. Flight Lieutenant R A Fletcher in the cockpit of Avro Manchester Mark IA, 'OF-P' "Sri Gajah" "Jill", of No. 97 Squadron, at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Watkins J R (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH4154.jpgView source & full licence →
Lancasters of 97 Squadron practice low level formation flying in preparation for the Augsburg raid
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force Official Photgrapher / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:97Sqd-Lancasters-low-level-practice_for_Augsburg_raid.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : Flight Lieutenant R A Fletcher in the cockpit of Avro Manchester Mark IA, 'OF-P' "Sri Gajah" "Jill", of No. 97 Squadron, at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer : Watkins J R (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:97_Squadron_Manchester_at_RAF_Coningsby_WWII_IWM_CH_4154.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2022_-Texel_-_monument_Westerslag_-003.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditPa3ems / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2022_-Texel_-_monument_Westerslag_-002.jpgView source & full licence →
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ⓘ licence & creditWizanthonyrs / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No._97_Squadron_RAF_badge.pngView source & full licence →

Operations flown

Aircraft (6)

SerialCodeTypeFate
L7573 OF-K Avro Lancaster Lost on operations
L7575 OF-Y Avro Lancaster Survived the war
R5488 OF-F Avro Lancaster Survived the war
R5496 OF-U Avro Lancaster Survived the war
R5513 OF-P Avro Lancaster Lost on operations
R5537 OF-B Avro Lancaster Survived the war

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'.