No. 37 Squadron

No. 37 Squadron was re-formed on 26 April 1937 at RAF Feltwell in Norfolk, initially equipped with Handley Page Harrows before converting to Vickers Wellingtons in May 1939 to join No. 3 Group’s bomber force. The squadron flew its first wartime sortie on 3 September 1939, sending six Wellingtons on an armed reconnaissance over the Schillig Roads in search of German warships; mounting losses on daylight missions soon drove the switch to night operations. In November 1940 the squadron moved to the Middle East, flying in support of Operation Compass against Italian forces in Libya and later deploying a detachment to Greece before returning to the Egyptian and North African theatre. Through the Western Desert campaign the squadron attacked ports, airfields and supply lines in support of the Eighth Army, including sustained operations against Tobruk during the Second Battle of El Alamein. After moving to Italy in December 1943, the Wellingtons were eventually replaced by Consolidated Liberators, and the squadron struck targets across Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Albania whilst also dropping supplies to Tito’s Partisan forces and participating in Allied mining of the River Danube. The squadron disbanded in its bomber role in 1946 before passing through several later incarnations as a maritime reconnaissance unit, finally disbanding at Khormaksar, Aden, on 7 September 1967.