No. 97 Squadron — Straits Settlements

Group
No. 8 Group (Pathfinder Force)
Command
Bomber Command
Home station
RAF Bourn

In the database: 6 aircraft · 6 service members · 6 sorties.

History

No. 97 Squadron served in No. 5 Group and took its nickname, “Straits Settlements”, from a large gift of money raised in the Malay Peninsula that helped buy its Avro Manchester aircraft in 1941. It soon exchanged the troubled Manchester for the Avro Lancaster, becoming one of the early Lancaster squadrons, and moved to RAF Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire.

On 17 April 1942 six of its Lancasters joined No. 44 Squadron in the audacious low-level daylight raid on the MAN diesel works at Augsburg, and that summer the squadron took part in the first thousand-bomber raids on Cologne, Essen and Bremen. In April 1943 it moved to RAF Bourn and joined No. 8 Group as a Pathfinder squadron, its hand-picked crews marking targets for the main force. The squadron’s motto, “Achieve your aim”, suited the role exactly.

Photographs

Newly-completed [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark IIIs on the apron of the A V Roe & Co. factory at Woodford, Cheshire. NE124 (centre) served as 'OF-J' with [No. 97 Squadron](/squadrons/59/) RAF and was shot down over France by a German night-fighter while raiding the flying-bomb site at Prouville on the night of 24/25 June 1944. LM578 (second right), a Yeadon-built example, served as 'EM-L' with [No. 207 Squadron](/squadrons/35/) RAF, with whom it crashed off the Dutch coast while outbound for a night raid on Wesseling, Germany, on 21/22 June 1944.
ⓘ licence & creditChristie Michael (MR), Ministry of Aircraft Production official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Newly_completed_Lancaster_B_IIIs_Woodford.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. Flight Lieutenant R A Fletcher in the cockpit of [Avro Manchester](/aircraft/5/) Mark IA, 'OF-P' "Sri Gajah" "Jill", of [No. 97 Squadron](/squadrons/59/), at [RAF Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Watkins J R (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH4154.jpgView source & full licence →
Flight Lieutenant R A Fletcher in the cockpit of [Avro Manchester](/aircraft/5/) Mark IA, 'OF-P' "Sri Gajah" "Jill", of [No. 97 Squadron](/squadrons/59/), at [RAF Coningsby](/airfields/3/), Lincolnshire.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer : Watkins J R (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:97_Squadron_Manchester_at_RAF_Coningsby_WWII_IWM_CH_4154.jpgView source & full licence →

Operations flown