No. 90 Squadron

Group
No. 3 Group
Command
Bomber Command
Home station
RAF Tuddenham

In the database: 3 aircraft · 15 service members · 2 sorties.

History

No. 90 Squadron had an unusually chequered war, passing through three separate existences. At the outbreak it served as a training unit flying the Bristol Blenheim. Reformed in May 1941, it became Bomber Command’s only squadron to operate the American Boeing Fortress — the four-engined B-17 Flying Fortress — flying early high-altitude raids that exposed the type’s shortcomings in European conditions, beginning with an attack on Wilhelmshaven in July 1941.

Reformed once more in November 1942 as a night-bomber squadron in No. 3 Group, it took the Short Stirling and operated from stations including RAF Ridgewell and RAF Tuddenham. In the summer of 1944 it converted to the Avro Lancaster, which it flew until the end of the war; its final raid was against Bremen in April 1945. Across the conflict the squadron flew over 4,600 sorties and lost 86 aircraft.

Photographs

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. A Boeing Fortress Mark I of [No. 90 Squadron](/squadrons/14/) RAF, taking off from [Polebrook](/airfields/6303/), Northamptonshire, to attack the German battlecruiser GNEISENAU docked at [Brest](/airfields/9051/), France. Three of the Squadron's Fortresses accompanied the attacking force, bombing the vessel from 30,000 feet in an effort to draw enemy fighters from the other bombers.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Woodbine G (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boeing_Fortress_Mk.I_of_No._90_Squadron_Bomber_Command,_Royal_Air_Force,_1939-1941._CH3086.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. Aircrew of [No. 90 Squadron](/squadrons/14/) RAF, board their Boeing Fortress Mark I at [Polebrook](/airfields/6303/), Northamptonshire, for an attack on the German Battlecruiser GNEISENAU, docked at [Brest](/airfields/9051/), France.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Woodbine G (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boeing_Fortress_Mk.I_-_Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH3084.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. The crew of Boeing Fortress Mark I, 'WP-G' of [No. 90 Squadron](/squadrons/14/) RAF, climb out of their aircraft at [Polebrook](/airfields/6303/), Northamptonshire, after a daylight attack on the German battlecruiser GNEISENAU docked at [Brest](/airfields/9051/), France, which they bombed from 30,000 feet. The crews of the three Fortresses involved found that the Sperry Model 'O' bombsight, with which the Fortresses were equipped, was too inaccurate at that height, and that the Wright Cyclone engines had difficulty in maintaining such an altitude.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Woodbine G (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boeing_Fortress_Mk.I_Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH3121.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The crew of a [Short Stirling](/aircraft/3/) Mark III of [No. 90 Squadron](/squadrons/14/) RAF are interrogated by an intelligence officer on their return to West Wickham/[Wratting Common](/airfields/6407/), Cambridgeshire, after the costly night raid on Berlin , Germany of 23/24 August 1943.
ⓘ licence & creditBellamy W (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH10804.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The crew of a [Short Stirling](/aircraft/3/) B Mark III of [No. 90 Squadron](/squadrons/14/) RAF relax by their aircraft on a hard standing north of the main runway at West Wickham/[Wratting Common](/airfields/6407/), Cambridgeshire, while other Stirlings of the Squadron are prepared for the night's operation, a raid on Berlin, 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._CH10900.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command in the Second World War [Short Stirling](/aircraft/3/) bombers and crews of [No. 90 Squadron](/squadrons/14/) lined up on the perimeter track at [Ridgewell](/airfields/6314/), Cambridgeshire, circa May 1943.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command_in_the_Second_World_War_TR1284.jpgView source & full licence →

Operations flown