No. 626 Squadron

No. 626 Squadron was formed in November 1943 at RAF Wickenby in Lincolnshire from a flight of No. 12 Squadron, and flew the Avro Lancaster in the strategic bombing role with No. 1 Group. It flew over 2,700 sorties in the course of the war.

The squadron took part in the disastrous Nuremberg raid of 30/31 March 1944 — the costliest night of the war for Bomber Command — though all sixteen of its own Lancasters returned safely. After the fighting it joined the food-dropping and repatriation flights of 1945, and was disbanded that October. Its motto was “To strive and not to yield”.