No. 50 Squadron

Group
No. 5 Group
Command
Bomber Command
Home station
RAF Skellingthorpe

In the database: 8 aircraft · 19 service members · 3 sorties.

History

No. 50 Squadron, which had begun life as a home-defence unit in the First World War, converted to the Handley Page Hampden at the end of 1938 and went to war as part of No. 5 Group. It later flew the troubled Avro Manchester before re-equipping with the Avro Lancaster, which it used against German targets until the final days of the war, and it made its home at RAF Skellingthorpe near Lincoln.

The squadron’s most famous airman was Flying Officer Leslie Manser. On the night of the first “thousand-bomber” raid against Cologne, 30/31 May 1942, his Manchester was badly hit; with a crash unavoidable, he held the aircraft steady to let his crew take to their parachutes and was killed when it went down. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. The squadron carried the fitting motto “From defence to attack”.

Photographs

Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Bomber Command Lancaster skipper, Flying Officer T Blackham of [No. 50 Squadron](/squadrons/31/), keeps a firm hold on the crew's lucky mascot, as he is helped into his flying jacket by his flight engineer, Sergeant C Walton, at [Skellingthorpe](/airfields/6/), 19 February 1944. Other members of the crew are, from left to right: Pilot Officer D Jones (navigator), Sergeant H Ridd (mid-upper gunner), Sergeant S Smith (bomb aimer) and Sergeant S Wilkins (wireless operator).
ⓘ licence & creditBellamy W (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Bomber_Command_CH12209.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. Aircrews of [No. 50 Squadron](/squadrons/31/) RAF gather in front of their [Handley Page Hampdens](/aircraft/6/) at [Waddington](/airfields/2/), Lincolnshire, shortly after returning , from [Kinloss](/airfields/6221/), Morayshire, from where they mounted a raid on the German fleet in the Bergen Fjord, Norway, on 9 April 1940.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._C1179.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command- the Strategic Air Offensive, 1939-1945. [Avro Lancasters](/aircraft/1/) of [No 50 Squadron](/squadrons/31/), Royal Air Force (No 5 Group), based at [Skellingthorpe](/airfields/6/), Lincolnshire, England, flying in loose formation.
ⓘ licence & creditBellamy (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command-_the_Strategic_Air_Offensive,_1939-1945._CH10715.jpgView source & full licence →
Lancaster B Mark Is of [No 50 Squadron](/squadrons/31/), Royal Air Force, based at [Skellingthorpe](/airfields/6/), flying in spread formation. The two aircraft beyond the wing tip are 'VN-D' and 'VN-J' the former, serial number JA899, was missing on the night of 24 - 25 June 1944 with Pilot Officer L G Peters and crew.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avro_Lancasters_flying_in_loose_formation.jpgView source & full licence →
[Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) Bombers in Flight, 26 August 1943 A pilot's view over the two starboard Merlin engines from the cockpit of an Avro Lancaster of [No 50 Squadron](/squadrons/31/), Royal Air Force.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avro_Lancaster_Bombers_in_Flight,_26_August_1943_TR1158.jpgView source & full licence →
Colour photograph of [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) VN-N, (R5689). Comment : Squadron code VN appears to identify this with [No. 50 Squadron](/squadrons/31/) RAF.
ⓘ licence & creditguessed to be RAF official photograph / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avro_Lancaster_298.jpgView source & full licence →

Operations flown