No. 38 Squadron

Motto: "Ante lucem" (Before the dawn).
Badge: A heron volant. The heron was chosen because it is found in great abundance in East Anglia, where the unit was formed. A further reason was that herons rarely miss their mark, become active as twilight descends, and are formidable fighters when attacked.
Authority: King George VI, February 1937.

No. 38 Squadron, RFC, was formed at Thetford, Norfolk, on 1st April 1916, but less than two months later, on 22nd May, it was re-designated No.25 Reserve Squadron. On 14th July 1916, the squadron was re-formed at Castle Bromwich for Home Defence duties in the Midland Counties area and there is interest in noting that until mid-September 1917, it was commanded by Captain AT Harris, later to become Air Chief Marshal Harris, C-in-C, RAF Bomber Command 1942-45, and now Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Sir Arthur Harris. On 1st October 1916, the squadron was deployed as follows: HQ at Melton Mowbray, and "A", "B" and "C" Flights at Stamford, Buckminster and Leadenham, respectively. No. 38's FE2b's went up in all the Zeppelin raids from January 1917 onwards, but no successes were achieved.

At the end of May 1918, the squadron - still with FE2b's - was transferred to Dunkirk as a night-bombing unit and between 13/14th June and 30/31st October 1918, raided the enemy on 47 nights, dropped nearly 50 tons of bombs and put in 1,591 hours' war flying.

In February 1919, after having handed its aircraft over to No.102 Squadron, No. 38 returned to England and in the following July disbanded.

In September 1935, No. 38 was re-formed at Mildenhall as a night-bomber squadron equipped with Handley Page Heyfords, later replaced by Fairey Hendons. It had Wel1ingtons at the outbreak of the Second World War and flew its first bombing mission on 3rd December 1939, when three of its Wel1ingtons joined 21 similar aircraft from Nos. 115 and 149 Squadrons in a daylight raid against German warships in the Heligoland area. While no great results were achieved by this operation No. 38 Squadron was, at least, able to claim an enemy fighter destroyed; it fell to the guns of LAC J Copley, the rear gunner in Wel1ington N2879 "Z-Zebra". Copley first learned of the enemy fighter's presence when an armour-piercing bullet lodged in the quick-release box of his parachute harness!

After further bombing operations in Northern Europe, including attacks on the invasion ports and Berlin, No. 38 moved to the Middle East in November 1940, and subsequently made its mark on Rhodes, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Crete, Syria, Sicily, Italy and much of North Africa.

Bomber Command WWII Bases:

• Marham : May 1937-Nov 1940

Bomber Command WWII Aircraft:

• Vickers Wellington I, IA, IC, II : Dec 1938 onwards

Code Letters:

• During the 1938 Munich crisis No. 38 was allotted the code letters "NH". In WW2 the squadron's codes were "HD".

First Operational Mission in WWII:

• 17th November 1939 : Armed reconnaissance over North Sea by 6 Wellingtons.

First Bombing Mission in WWII:

• 3rd December 1939 : 2 Wellingtons bombed enemy warships off Heligoland. Another Wellington on same armed-reconnaissance mission was attacked by fighter & unable to bomb.

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