No. 61 Squadron

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

In the database: 7 aircraft · 1 service member.

History

No. 61 Squadron served throughout the war in No. 5 Group and became closely associated with the city of Lincoln. It opened its account flying the Handley Page Hampden on a North Sea reconnaissance on Christmas Day 1939, converted to the Avro Manchester in 1941, and then took the Avro Lancaster, which it flew for the rest of the war. Several of its Lancasters became veterans of more than a hundred operations apiece.

The squadron moved often between the airfields of the East Midlands, among them RAF Hemswell, RAF Syerston, RAF Skellingthorpe and RAF Coningsby, sharing the long and costly main-force campaign against Germany. It carried the resounding motto “Thundering through the clear air”.

Photographs

RAF Bomber Command 1940 [Handley Page Hampden](/aircraft/6/) of [No. 61 Squadron](/squadrons/33/) at [Hemswell](/airfields/18/), starting engines before a raid, 16 October 1940.
ⓘ licence & creditPress Agency photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_Bomber_Command_1940_HU104632.jpgView source & full licence →
RAF Bomber Command 1940 [Handley Page Hampdens](/aircraft/6/) of [No. 61 Squadron](/squadrons/33/) at [Hemswell](/airfields/18/) prepare to take off on a raid, 16 October 1940.
ⓘ licence & creditPress Agency photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_Bomber_Command_1940_HU104631.jpgView source & full licence →
RAF Bomber Command 1940 Hampden bomber crews of [No. 61 Squadron](/squadrons/33/) at [Hemswell](/airfields/18/) putting on flying kit, 16 October 1940.
ⓘ licence & creditPress Agency photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_Bomber_Command_1940_HU104630.jpgView source & full licence →
Lancaster Mark II, DS604 ‘QR-W’, of [No. 61 Squadron](/squadrons/33/) RAF, on the ground at [Syerston](/airfields/21/), Nottinghamshire. DS604 later joined [No. 115 Squadron](/squadrons/262/) RAF and was lost over Frankfurt on 10/11 April 1943
ⓘ licence & creditMinistry of Aircraft Production (MAP) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lancaster_Mark_II_at_RAF_Syerston_WWII_IWM_ATP_12118C.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. WAAF and other ground crew members wave off Pilot Officer W H Eager RCAF and his crew in [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark I, W4236 'QR-K', of [No. 61 Squadron](/squadrons/33/) RAF, as they begin their take-off run from [Syerston](/airfields/21/), Nottinghamshire, for a night raid on Hamburg, Germany. This was W4236's 74th mission, from which it returned safely: it was lost, however, during a raid on [Mannheim](/airfields/8659/) on 10 August 1943.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH10675.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark I, DV397 'QR-W', of [No. 61 Squadron](/squadrons/33/) RAF taxying past the windsock at [Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire. DV398 was lost during a raid on Berlin, Germany on 24/25 March 1944.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH12355.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The crew of an [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark I of [No. 61 Squadron](/squadrons/33/) RAF walk towards their aircraft at [Syerston](/airfields/21/), Nottinghamshire, before taking off for a raid on Hamburg, Germany.
ⓘ licence & creditBellamy W (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH10714.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The air and ground crew of [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark I, W4236 'QR-K', of 'A' Flight, [No. 61 Squadron](/squadrons/33/) RAF, grouped by the nose of the aircraft at [Syerston](/airfields/21/), Nottinghamshire, after it had completed 70 operational flights. Air crew, standing) left to right: Flying Officer F L Hewish, air bomber; Pilot Officer W H Eager RCAF, pilot and captain; Sergeant F R Stone, wireless operator; Sergeant L S Vanner, rear gunner; Sergeant H T Petts, navigator; Sergeant F R Sharrard, mid-upper gunner; Sergeant L Lawrence, flight engineer. Ground crew, (sitting) left to right: Leading Aircraftsman W A Long, flight mechanic (engines); Corporal C Bowyer, fitter; Leading Aircraftsman J Blackwood, flight mechanic (airframe).
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH10678.jpgView source & full licence →
Photograph looking back over the starboard wing of a Lancaster of [No 61 Squadron](/squadrons/33/), Bomber Command, after an attack on U-751 in the Bay of Biscay, 17 July 1942. The U-boat had been attacked and crippled by a [Whitley](/aircraft/7/) of [No 502 Squadron](/squadrons/435/) earlier, before being finally sunk by depth charges dropped by the Lancaster.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:61_Squadron_RAF_Lancaster_sinks_U-boat_Jul_1942_IWM_HU_91243.jpgView source & full licence →