No. 692 Squadron — Fellowship of the Bellows

Group
8 Group
Home station
RAF Graveley

About

No. 692 Squadron was formed on 1 January 1944 at RAF Graveley as a light-bomber unit of the Light Night Striking Force in No. 8 Group, flying the de Havilland Mosquito. It took its name from the “Fellowship of the Bellows”, an Anglo-Argentine group that raised money to buy aircraft for Britain.

Its Mosquitoes were specially modified with bulged bomb-bays so they could carry the 4,000lb “Cookie” blast bomb, and in February 1944 the squadron became the first to drop one, on Düsseldorf. Flying fast and high, the Light Night Striking Force harried German cities with these heavy bombs at remarkably small cost — across the war the squadron flew more than 3,200 sorties for the loss of only seventeen aircraft. It disbanded in September 1945.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including History of War — No. 692 Squadron (RAF) in the Second World War and Wikipedia: No. 692 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. Armourers wheel a 4,000-lb HC bomb ('Cookie') for loading into a De Havilland Mosquito B Mark IV (modified) of No. 692 Squadron RAF at Graveley, Huntingdonshire. No. 692 Squadron was part of the Light Night Striking Force of No. 8 (PFF) Group, which specialised in fast, high-flying night raids on Germany, particularly Berlin. The specially-modified Mosquitos were fitted with bulged bomb-bays in order to accommodate 'Cookies'.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Daventry B J (F/O) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12621.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. A De Havilland Mosquito B Mark IV (modified) of No. 692 Squadron RAF of the Light Night Striking Force, at Graveley, Huntingdonshire, showing the enlarged bomb-bay, fitted to accommodate the 4,000-lb HC bomb ('Cookie').
ⓘ 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._CH12624.jpgView source & full licence →
CWGC graves of two RAF airmen beside the church of Hupperdange
ⓘ licence & creditMMFE / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_memorial_WW2_Hupperdange_01.jpgView source & full licence →
Armourers wheel a 4,000-lb HC bomb ('Cookie') for loading into a De Havilland Mosquito B Mark IV (modified) of No. 692 Squadron RAF at RAF Graveley, Huntingdonshire.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loading_cookie_on_Mosquito_WWII_IWM_CH_12621.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- De Havilland Dh 98 Mosquito. Mosquito B Mark XVI, MM183 'P3-A', of No. 692 Squadron RAF, lined up with other aircraft of the Squadron at Graveley, Huntingdonshire.
ⓘ licence & creditPenfold (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_De_Havilland_Dh_98_Mosquito._CH17858.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'.