Squadron History

550 Squadron History

Squadron Formation

No. 550 Squadron was formed at Waltham, near Grimsby, in November 1943, as a Lancaster heavy-bomber squadron in No. 1 Group and began operations that same month. Early in the New Year it moved to North Killingholme - also near Grimsby - and from there continued to play its part in the bomber offensive until late April 1945, when it switched to dropping food to the starving Dutch people. Source: http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/h550.html.

The Historical Record

The following documents provide some brief historial information surrounding 550 Squadron and the times in which it operated. Some of these documents have been available previously (on the original web-site and/or in association newsletters) but are presented here for ease of access (available as PDF documents requiring Adode Reader or similar):

URLDescription
550 Squadron History A brief history (one page) of 550 Squadron
Background to Operations A more extended history of 550 Squadron with a general background to Bomber Command operations
550 Squadron Avro Lancaster Bombers A list of all of the 550 Squadron Avro Lancaster Bombers
Operations Record A month-by-month list of 550 Squadron operations

Most of this information has been provided by Wing Commander Jack Harris (secretary of the association).