No. 550 Squadron

Group
1 Group
Home station
RAF North Killingholme

About

No. 550 Squadron was formed at RAF Waltham, near Grimsby, in November 1943 from a flight of No. 100 Squadron, and flew the Avro Lancaster in No. 1 Group. Early in 1944 it moved to RAF North Killingholme in Lincolnshire, from where it operated for the rest of the war.

The squadron flew some 3,500 sorties and dropped over 16,000 tons of bombs; three of its Lancasters became veterans of more than a hundred operations, among them “Phantom of the Ruhr”. In the final weeks it joined Operation Manna, dropping food to the starving population of the occupied Netherlands, before disbanding in October 1945.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including 550 Squadron and RAF North Killingholme Association — Squadron history and Wikipedia: No. 550 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. The crew of Avro Lancaster B Mark III, ED905 'BQ-F' "Press on regardless", of No. 550 Squadron RAF, pose on their aircraft after it had completed 70 operational sorties, at North Killinghome, Yorkshire. They were to fly ED905's hundredth successful sortie on 4 November 1944. The crew consisted of: captain and pilot, Flight Lieutenant D A Shaw; navigator, Sergeant R Harris; engineer, Pilot Officer C Bruce; air bomber, Flight-Sergeant A Llanwarne; mid-upper gunner, Flight-Sergeant A Buckingham; and rear gunner, Flight-Sergeant E Griffiths.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Teal W H (Cpl), No. 550 Squadron RAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH17852.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The rear section of Avro Lancaster B Mark I, DV305 'BQ-O', No. 550 Squadron RAF based at North Killingholme, Lincolnshire, seen at Woodbridge Emergency Landing Ground, Suffolk, after the severely-damaged aircraft crash-landed there following an attack by a German night fighter over Berlin on the night of 30/31 January 1944. In the course of the attack both the rear gunner and the mid-upper gunner were killed, and the bomb-aimer baled out having misunderstood orders. The pilot, Flying Officer G A Morrison, managed to bring the crippled aircraft back without any navigation aids.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CE121.jpgView source & full licence →
A Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster B Mk. I (serial number PA474) in flight during Air Fete'88, a NATO aircraft display hosted by the U.S. Air Force's 513th Airborne Command and Control Wing, at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk (UK). PA474 is one of only two Lancasters remaining in airworthy condition out of the 7377 that were built – the other being in Canada. She was built in Chester in mid-1945 and was earmarked for the "Tiger Force" in the Far East. However, the war with Japan ended before she could take part in any hostilities. She was therefore assigned to Photographic Reconnaissance duties with 82 Squadron, RAF, in East and South Africa. While operating with 82 Squadron, PA474 had her turrets removed. In 1964 she was adopted by the Air Historical Branch (RAF) for future display in the proposed RAF Museum at Hendon. Since 2007, PA474 wears the markings of EE139, the "Phantom of the Ruhr"', that flew her first 30 strikes with No 100 Squadron based at Waltham before completing a further 91 ope
ⓘ licence & creditUSAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lancaster_B1_PA474_28_May_1988.jpgView source & full licence →
Jack Currie, DFC
ⓘ licence & creditOfficial RAF photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JackCurrie.2.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : The crew of Avro Lancaster B Mark III, ED905 'BQ-F' "Press on regardless", of No. 550 Squadron RAF, pose on their aircraft after it had completed 70 operational sorties, at RAF North Killingholme, Yorkshire. They were to fly ED905's hundredth successful sortie on 4 November 1944. The crew consisted of: captain and pilot, Flight Lieutenant D A Shaw; navigator, Sergeant R Harris; engineer, Pilot Officer C Bruce; air bomber, Flight-Sergeant A Llanwarne; mid-upper gunner, Flight-Sergeant A Buckingham; and rear gunner, Flight-Sergeant E Griffiths.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer : Teal W H (Cpl), No. 550 Squadron RAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:550_Squadron_Lancaster_and_crew_IWM_CH_17852.jpgView source & full licence →
550 Squadron Flight Commanders and Leaders May 1945
ⓘ licence & creditUnknown official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:550_Squadron_Flight_Commanders_and_Leaders_May_1945.jpgView source & full licence →
550 Squadron Adjutant Christopher Walter Waitt photographed May 1945
ⓘ licence & creditChristopher Walter Waitt MM / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:550_Squadron_Adjutant_Christopher_Walter_Waitt_May_1945.jpgView source & full licence →

Aircraft (1)

SerialCodeTypeFate
EE139 BQ-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'.