No. 58 Squadron

Motto: "Alis nocturnis" ("On the wings of the night").
Badge: On a branch an owl.
Authority: King George VI, September 1937.

No. 58 Squadron, R.F.C., was formed at Cramlington, Northumberland, on 10th January, 1916, as a nucleus flight under the aegis of No. 36 Home Defence Squadron. It remained with its parent unit until the following June and then became a separate squadron with the role of an advanced training unit.

In December, 1917, the demand for night-bombing squadrons for overseas resulted in No. 58 being mobilised and by the following February it was operating F.E.2b's on the Western Front. It remained on the Western Front until the Armistice and from September, 1918, onwards operated Handley Page 0/400's. Its targets included airfields, railway communications, rest billets and troop columns, and during some nine months of operational service it dropped 247 tons of bombs¹ - a weight not far short of the total weight of bombs dropped on Great Britain by the Germans during the whole war - and fired, while ground strafing, 416,970 rounds of small-arms ammunition.

Between the Armistice and the middle of April, 1919, the squadron did a certain amount of passenger-carrying on the lines of communication of the Army of Occupation. In the summer of 1919 the squadron moved to Egypt, and on the 2nd May - while the move was in progress - it was taken on the strength of the Training Brigade, Middle East. A number of pilots flew their Handley Pages from France to Egypt, and others returned to England, rejoining the squadron later in the year by air in Vickers Vimy bombers.

In February, 1920, the squadron was re-designated No. 70 Squadron, but it re-formed in England in 1924 as a heavy bomber unit and in the years which followed was mainly engaged in routine training. In 1925 Squadron Leader A. T. Harris (who became A.O.C.-in-C. Bomber Command 1942 - 1945 and then Marshal of the Royal Air Force) took command of the squadron, one of his flight commanders during his tour as C.O. being Flight Lieutenant R. H. M. S. Saundby, who became Air Marshal Sir Robert Saundby and was Deputy C.-in-C. Bomber Command from 1943 - 1945.

No. 58 was flying Whitleys from Yorkshire at the outbreak of the Second World War, and first went into action on the night of 3rd/4th September, 1939, when - in conjunction with No. 51 Squadron - it maid a leaflet raid over Germany. This was the first occasion on which R.A.F aircraft penetrated into Germany during the Second World War. A few weeks after this operation No. 58 was ordered to an airfield in South-West England for duty with Coastal Command and until late January, 1940, it was employed on escorting convoys and flying anti-submarine patrols. The squadron returned to Yorkshire in February and from April, 1940 to March, 1942, played a prominent part in the night-bombing offensive. Its targets were of the widest variety, from airfields, road and railway communications, marshalling yards and industrial centres, to the Channel Ports, oil and petrol installations and shipping at sea. Three highlights of this period were the squadron's participation in the first big attack on the German mainland (München-Gladbach) on 11th/12th May, 1940; the first attack on Italy (primary target Turin) on 11th/12th June, 1940; and the first attack on Berlin, on 25th/26th August, 1940.

In April, 1942, No. 58 Squadron was transferred to Coastal Command and during the remainder of the war, as a general reconnaissance unit (flying Halifaxes from 1943 onwards), took a considerable toll of enemy surface vessels, sank five U-boats and shared in the destruction of two others.

1. The greater part of this total was made up of 112-pounders, but 25-pounders ran the heavier bombs close; in addition, on two occasions - namely, the nights of 8th/9th and 14th/15th October, 1918 - a 1,650 pound bomb figured in the loads released on Valenciennes (North) and Audenarde railway junctions.

Bomber Command WWII Bases:

• Linton-on-Ouse, Yorks : Apr. 1938 - Oct. 1939
  • Detachment in France (Rheims) in Sep. 1939
  • Detachment to Boscombe Down at end Sep. 1939 on loan to No. 15 Gp. Coastal Command & in Oct. joined by H.Q. (small maintce. party remained at Linton).
• Boscombe Down, Wilts : Oct. 1939 - Feb. 1940
   (on loan to No. 15 Gp.).
• Linton-on-Ouse, Yorks : Feb. 1940 - Apr. 1942
   Transferred to Coastal Cmd 7.4.42

Bomber Command WWII Aircraft:

• Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
• Mk.II's : Jan. 1938 - Jul. 1939
• Mk.III's : Apr. 1939 - early 1940
• Mk.V's : Mar. 1940 - Apr. 1942

Code Letters:

• During the 1938 Munich crisis No. 58 was allotted the code letters "BW". In WW2 while serving in Bomber Command, the sqdn's a/c were coded "GE".

First Operational Mission in WWII:

• 3rd/4th September 1939 : 7 Whitleys dropped Nickels on the Ruhr. Afterwards two of them landed in France and another crash-landed there - crew safe.

First Bombing Mission in WWII:

• 18th/19th April 1940 : 2 Whitleys bombed Oslo/Fornebu airfield and another Whitley aborted.

Last Bombing Attack with Bomber Cmd. in WWII:

• 25/26th March 1942 : 9 Whitleys despatched to bomb St. Nazaire. 6 bombed prmary, 1 bombed what was believed to be Lannion airfield (the alternative target and the other 2 completely aborted.
     Note: On 27th/28th March 1942, 11 Whitleys were despatched to bomb St. Nazaire but all aborted.

Last Operational Mission with Bomber Cmd. in WWII:

• 29th/30th March 1942 : 3 Whitleys dropped Nickels on Lille and another Whitley aborted.

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