No. 189 Squadron was a

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 ...

squadron.

History

No. 189 Squadron was formed at RFC Ripon on 20 December 1917 as a night-flying training unit, moving shortly afterwards to Sutton's Farm to continue their work until the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. On 1 March 1919, the squadron was disbanded. The squadron was re-formed as part of

No. 5 Group RAF No. 5 Group was a Royal Air Force bomber group of the Second World War, led during the latter part (February 1943 – 1945) by AVM Sir Ralph Cochrane. History Overview The Group was formed on 1 September 1937, with its headquarters at RAF Mild ...

on 15 October 1944 at

RAF Bardney Royal Air Force Bardney or RAF Bardney is a former Royal Air Force station located north of Bardney, Lincolnshire, England and east of the County town of Lincoln. It was built as a satellite to RAF Waddington in 1943 and the airfield closed i ...

near the village of

Bardney Bardney is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 1,643 at the 2001 census increasing to 1,848 (including Southrey) at the 2011 census. The village sits on the e ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. They flew

Lancaster bomber The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling ...

s in raids over

occupied Europe German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

towards the end of

World War II 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 ...

in 1944 and 1945. The commanding officer was

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

J. S. Shorthouse DFC. After RAF Bardney, the squadron was based at

RAF Fulbeck Royal Air Force Fulbeck or more simply RAF Fulbeck is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire and west of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England. The airfield is located about north-northwest of London ...

near the village of

Fulbeck Fulbeck is a small village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population (including Byards Leap) taken at the 2011 census was 513. The village is on the A607, north from Grantham and north-west from ...

, returning to Bardney in April 1945 and then on to RAF Metheringham near

Metheringham Metheringham is an English village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 3,605. It is about south of the city and county town of Lincoln and north of Sleafor ...

. The unit was mixed, with many personnel from other parts of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

including

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

ns,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

ers and

Canadians Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

. No. 189 Squadron was among the 107 Lancasters and 12

Mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...

s of No 5 Group which attacked the oil refinery in Tonsberg in Southern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

on 25 April 1945 in the last raid of the war flown by heavy bombers of

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 ...

. After the war the unit was involved in dropping food to the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and repatriating

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

s until it was disbanded on 20 November 1945.

Aircraft operated

* 1917 -

Avro 504K The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...

* 1917 - Royal Aircraft Factory BE2e * 1917 -

Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristi ...

* 1918 -

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

* 1944 - Avro Lancaster I and III

Example of Operations

The following

sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warfare. ...

details are taken from the operations record book for 189 sqdn.

External links

* http://www.controltowers.co.uk/B/Bardney.htm * http://airfieldarchaeology.fotopic.net/c937064.html * http://raf-lincolnshire.info/fulbeck/fulbeck.htm * http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/s67.html Military units and formations established in 1917 189 Squadron 1917 establishments in the United Kingdom {{RAF-stub

History

Aircraft operated

Example of Operations

See also

External links