No. 23 Squadron

No. 23 Operational Training Unit was formed on 1 April 1941 at RAF Pershore in Worcestershire, within No. 6 Group, RAF Bomber Command, to prepare night bomber crews on the Vickers Wellington. The unit transferred to No. 91 Group on 11 May 1942 as Bomber Command reorganised its training establishment into a dedicated group structure. It made a direct contribution to front-line operations when it despatched 34 Wellingtons on the first Thousand Bomber raid against Cologne on the night of 30/31 May 1942, followed by 33 aircraft to Essen and 17 to Bremen in the weeks that followed, absorbing the associated losses of operational training crews. Satellite airfields at Defford and later at Stratford supplemented the main Pershore base, expanding the unit’s capacity for the flying hours needed to qualify crews. The unit was disbanded on 15 March 1944, with its “B” Flight absorbed by No. 22 OTU, reflecting the declining demand for Wellington-trained heavy-bomber replacements as the Lancaster and Halifax had by then become the dominant types in the Command.