No. 578 Squadron

No. 578 Squadron was formed at RAF Snaith on 14 January 1944, carved from C Flight of No. 51 Squadron, and transferred to RAF Burn three weeks later — the Yorkshire base it would call home for the rest of its existence. Operating within No. 4 Group, Bomber Command, it flew Handley Page Halifax Mk.III heavy bombers on Main Force night-bombing duties over Germany and occupied Europe. The squadron flew its first sortie on 20 January 1944 against Berlin and completed its last operation, a daylight raid on Wuppertal, on 13 March 1945. Across roughly fourteen months it flew some 2,721 sorties and lost around 40 aircraft. Its most celebrated airman was Pilot Officer Cyril Barton, posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for bringing his crippled Halifax home after the Nuremberg raid of 30/31 March 1944 — the only VC won by a Halifax crew member. The squadron was disbanded at Burn on 15 April 1945.