No 692 Squadron

Motto: "Polus dum sidera pascet" ("So long as the sky shall feed the stars").
Badge: In front of a pair of wings conjoined in base a dagger, point downwards. The design symbolises the power to strike down on an enemy. The motto consists of the first/our words of the quotation from Virgil (Aeneid 1608) which may be translated as "so long as the sky shall feed the stars". The words that follow mean "always in thy honour and thy name and thy glory remains". The reference to the sky feeding the stars is explained by an ancient belie/that the stars renew their fires continually from the ether.
Authority: King George VI, November 1944.

Hanging from the wall in the office of No 692 Squadron's CO during the last war was a pair of bellows. A peculiar ornament to be decorating a CO's office, one would say, at any time. But around those bellows hung an interesting story. They were presented to the squadron to mark the occasion of a visit by members of the Fellowship of the Bellows, a movement created in Buenos Aires with the object of raising money for purchase of aircraft for the RAF No 692 was adopted by the Fellowship in 1944 shortly after the squadron came into being.

The squadron was formed at Graveley, Huntingdonshire, on 1st January 1944. It was equipped with Mosquito light bombers and became part of the force of fast, high-flying night raiders- the Light Night Striking Force of No 8 (PFF) Group. The Light Night Striking Force made a name for itself with its regular journeys to Berlin, hitting the German capital again and again with 4,000lb. "cookie" bombs.

Squadron Leader SD Watts, a New Zealander, who later became the squadron's CO, flew the first Mosquito to drop a 4,000lb. bomb on Germany.¹ No 692 also gained the distinction of being the first Mosquito squadron to execute a minelaying operation.² On New Year's Day 1945, the squadron undertook a tunnel-busting operation against the vital German lines of supply to the Ardennes offensive. The attacks were made at heights of 250 feet or less and in such a way that the 4,000lb. bombs were thrown into the mouths of the tunnels. One pilot flew down a cutting at a height of 100 feet and in a width space of only three Mosquito wing spans to throw his bomb into the tunnel mouth. The bomb travelled down the tunnel before exploding, belching out dirt and smoke from the opposite end.

¹ The target was Düsseldorf and the date 23rd February 1944. S/Ldr. Watts was flying Mosquito Mk. IV (modified) DZ647 and dropped his "cookie" on Düsseldorf from 25,000 feet at 20.45k hours, this bomb being closely followed by two more "cookies" dropped by Mosquito IV's (modified) DZ534 and DZ637 of the same squadron.

² The target was the Kiel Canal and the date 12/13th May 1944. Route and target marking was done by No 139 Squadron. Other Pathfinder Mosquitos made a "spoof" attack on the lock gates at Brunsbüttel to divert enemy defences whilst intruders from No 100 Group shot up gun positions along the canal. The mine-laying operation, executed in bright moonlight and from very low level, was a complete success; the Kiel Canal was completely closed to traffic for seven days, by which time 63 ships were held up at one end.

Bomber Command WWII Bases: Formed 1.1.44 as No 692(B) Sqn at

• Graveley : Jan 1944 onwards

Bomber Command WWII Aircraft:

• de Havilland Mosquito B.IV, B.XVI : Jan 1944 onwards

Code Letters:

• "P3"

First Operational Mission in WWII:

• 1st/2nd February 1944 : 1 Mosquito bombed Berlin.

Last Operational Mission in WWII:

• 2nd/3rd May 1945 : 23 Mosquitos, operating in 2 separate waves of 12 & 11 a/c, bombed Kiel.

 

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