No. 106 Squadron

Motto: "Pro libertate" ("For freedom").
Badge: A lion sejant, rampant, holding a banner charged with an astral crown. A lion sejant, rampant, holding a banner is based on the crest of the County Borough of Doncaster, the squadron being stationed near there at the time of adopting the badge.
Authority: King George VI, February 1941.

No 106 Squadron, RFC, was formed at Andover, Hampshire, on 30th September 1917, and from May 1918, onwards served in Ireland as an army co-operation squadron. It was disbanded in 1919 and next appeared in June 1938, when it was re-formed as No 106 (Bomber) Squadron.

At the outbreak of the Second World War the squadron was flying Hampdens with No. 5 Group, and until early 1941 had a training role. It then reverted to front-line status and began regular night bombing operations against Fortress Europe.

After a short spell with Manchesters, No 106 converted to Lancasters in the early summer of 1942 (but it did not become converted completely to Lancasters before some of the Manchesters had participated in the 1,000-bomber raids on Cologne, Essen and Bremen). In October it contributed 10 Lancasters to No. 5 Group's epic dusk raid on Le Creusot and two more (one of them piloted by Wing Commander Guy Gibson who was then No 106's CO) to the subsidiary raid on Montchanin. In 1943 it took part in the first "shuttle-bombing" raids (when the targets were Friedrichshafen and Spezia) and the famous attack on Peenemunde. Among the targets attacked in 1944 were a coastal gun battery at St. Pierre du Mont and the V1 storage sites in the caves at St. Leu d'Esserent. In December 1944, it made a 1,900-mile round trip to bomb the German Baltic Fleet at Gdynia, while in March 1945, it was represented in the bomber force that so pulverised the defences of Wesel just before the Rhine crossing that Commandos were able to seize the town with only 36 casualties. In April 1945, came the last of the squadron's operations against the enemy - a bombing attack on an oil refinery at Vallo (Tonsberg) in Norway, and a simultaneous minelaying expedition to the Oslo fjord.

During the Second World War No 106 Squadron operated on 496 nights and 46 days, flying 5,834 operational sorties. In so doing it lost 187 aircraft - a percentage loss on sorties flown of 3.21 - but on the credit side its gunners claimed 20 enemy aircraft destroyed, 3 probably destroyed and 29 damaged. A total of 267 decorations were won by the squadron, including a Victoria Cross awarded to Sergeant NC Jackson for conspicuous bravery during an attack on Schweinfurt on 26/27th April 1944.

Bomber Command WWII Bases:

• Thornaby : Oct 1938-Sep 1939
• Detached to Evanton in Aug 1939 & from there moved, early in Sep 1939, to:
• Cottesmore : Sep 1939-Oct 1939
• Finningley : Oct 1939-Feb 1941
• Coningsby : Feb 1941-Sep 1942
• Syerston : Sep 1942-Nov 1943
• Metheringham : Nov 1943 onwards

Bomber Command WWII Aircraft:

• Handley Page Hampden : May 1939-Mar 1942
• Avro Manchester : Feb 1942-Jun 1942
• Avro Lancaster B.I and B.III : May 1942 onwards

Code Letters:

• During the 1938 Munich crisis No 106 was allotted the code letters "XS". In WW2 the sqdn's a/c were coded "ZN".

First Operational Mission in WWII:

• 9/10th September 1940 : 3 Hampdens laid mines in Deodars (Bordeaux) area.

First Bombing Mission in WWII:

• 1st/2nd March 1941 : 4 Hampdens bombed Cologne & another Hampden aborted.

Last Operational Mission in WWII:

• 25/26th April 1945 : 14 Lancasters despatched to bomb oil refinery and tankerage at Vallo (Tonsberg). 12 bombed primary and 2 aborted. 2 more Lancasters laid mines in the Oslo fjord off Horten.

Last Mission before VE Day:

• 4th May 1945 : 17 Lancasters ferried 402 ex-POWs home to UK from France.

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