No. 619 Squadron

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

In the database: 2 aircraft.

History

No. 619 Squadron was formed in April 1943 at RAF Woodhall Spa, raised from a flight of No. 97 Squadron, and flew the Avro Lancaster in No. 5 Group. A busy main-force squadron rather than a famous one, it moved several times among the airfields of Lincolnshire — Coningsby, RAF Dunholme Lodge and Strubby — flying its first operation against Düsseldorf in June 1943.

It took part in the long campaign against Germany until the final weeks of the war, when it turned to minelaying and to ferrying released prisoners of war home. The squadron was disbanded in 1945, and its post-war motto, Ad altiora, meant “to higher things”.

Photographs

Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Bomber Command Veteran air gunner Flt Lt J A Howard DFC in the rear turret of a [No 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) Lancaster, 14 February 1944.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Bomber_Command_CH12282.jpgView source & full licence →
Flying Officer P Ingleby, the navigator of an [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark III of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) RAF based at [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire, seated at his table in the aircraft.
ⓘ licence & creditDevon S A (Flt Lt), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lancaster_navigator_WWII_IWM_CH_12288.jpgView source & full licence →
Flying Officer J B Burnside, the flight engineer on board an [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark III of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) RAF based at [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire, checks settings on the control panel from his seat in the cockpit.
ⓘ licence & creditDevon S A (Flt Lt), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lancaster_flight_engineer_WWII_IWM_CH_12289.jpgView source & full licence →
[No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) III
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avro_Lancaster_Mk_1_ExCC.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Flying Officer J B Burnside, the flight engineer on board an [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark III of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) RAF based at [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire, checks settings on the control panel from his seat in the cockpit.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Devon S A (Flt Lt) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12289.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Flying Officer P Ingleby, the navigator of an [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark III of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) RAF based at [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire, seated at his table in the aircraft.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Devon S A (Flt Lt) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12288.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. An [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark III of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) RAF, caught in floodlights while running up its engines at night at [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12354.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Flight Lieutenant P Walmsley of Hull, Yorkshire, the bomb-aimer on board an [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark III of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) RAF, operating a Mark XIV Stabilised Vector Bombsight at his position in the nose of the aircraft, at [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire.
ⓘ licence & creditDevon S A (Flt Lt), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12283.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. A loose formation of six [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark IIIs of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) RAF based at [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire, flying above clouds.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH18684.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Avro 683 Lancaster. Almost head-on view of Lancaster B Mark III, LM449 ‘PG-H’, of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) RAF based at [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire, in flight over the North Sea.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Avro_683_Lancaster._CH21128.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Avro 683 Lancaster. Lancaster B Mark III, LM449 ‘PG-H’, of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) RAF based at [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire, in flight.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Avro_683_Lancaster._CH21121.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Avro 683 Lancaster. Three Lancaster B Mark IIIs of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) RAF, airborne from [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire. The aircraft in the foreground, LM418 ‘PG-S’, was destroyed in a crash-landing at Woodbridge Emergency Landing Ground after returning from the ill-fated [Nuremberg raid](/operations/8/) of 30/31 March 1944 on two engines. Its crew survived the crash, but were all killed in action later
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Avro_683_Lancaster._CH12352.jpgView source & full licence →
A Lancaster Mk III of [No. 619 Squadron](/squadrons/39/) on a test flight from [RAF Coningsby](/airfields/3/), 14 February 1944. A Lancaster III of No 619 Squadron, based at Coningsby, 14 February 1944.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Lancaster_Mk_III_of_No._619_Squadron_on_a_test_flight_from_RAF_Coningsby,_14_February_1944._CH12346.jpgView source & full licence →