No. 514 Squadron RAF (514 Sqn) was a bomber squadron of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

History

Members of 514 Sqn were awarded 1 DSO, 84 DFCs, one

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

to the DFC and 26 DFMs. 514 Squadron was part of

3 Group No. 3 Group (3 Gp) of the Royal Air Force was an RAF group first active in 1918, again in 1923–26, part of RAF Bomber Command from 1936 to 1967, and part of RAF Strike Command from 2000 until it disbanded on 1 April 2006. No. 3 Group was first ...

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

. It operated between September 1943 and August 1945, initially from RAF Foulsham, and then, from December 1943 onward, from RAF Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire. 437 aircrew were killed flying with the Squadron.

Aircraft operated

Squadron bases

Reunions

From 1988 to 2012, the Squadron held an annual reunion in June at Waterbeach Barracks hosted by the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. A service of remembrance was held in the parish church, and the

BBMF The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events comme ...

Lancaster made a flypast over the former RAF airfield. In 2013, following the barracks' closure, a reunion was held in the village on 15 June with the Lancaster flypast over the Recreation Ground. In 2015, a reunion was again held in Waterbeach Barracks in a new community building.

Museum

The 514 Squadron Association and the Army established a museum in Waterbeach Barracks in 1985. This museum closed in September 2012, as the barracks closed permanently in March 2013, although the contents have been saved. It expected that the new Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum will return to its building at the Barracks, and re-open in early summer 2016.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * (available from the Museum) * * * * * * *

External links

514 Squadron RAF website
- commemorates all who served in the Squadron
514 Squadron Facebook page

Squadron history, on RAF website

The Wartime Memories Project - 514 Sqn
* Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum
Squadron histories for nos. 500–520 squadron on RAFweb's Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation

- William MacDonald
Video about the last flight of 514 Squadron Lancaster A2-C, lost 28 July 1944
{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 514 Squadron Raf Bomber squadrons of the Royal Air Force in World War II 514 Squadron Military units and formations established in 1943