No. 189 Squadron

No. 189 Squadron was reformed on 15 October 1944 at RAF Bardney in Lincolnshire as a heavy bomber unit within No. 5 Group, Bomber Command, flying Avro Lancaster I and III aircraft. It flew its first operational sortie on 1 November 1944 against Homburg, and thereafter contributed to the main force campaign against German industrial and oil targets through the final months of the war. The squadron moved to RAF Fulbeck in November 1944, returning to Bardney in April 1945 before a final move to RAF Metheringham. Its aircrew were drawn from across the Commonwealth, including substantial numbers of Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians. The squadron took part in the last heavy bomber raid carried out by RAF Bomber Command — the attack on the Tønsberg oil refinery in Norway on 25 April 1945, alongside over a hundred other Lancasters and Mosquitoes of 5 Group. After the German surrender the unit flew food-supply missions to the occupied Netherlands and assisted in repatriating Allied prisoners of war before being disbanded on 20 November 1945. No badge or motto was ever formally authorised for the squadron.