No. 622 Squadron RAF is a reserve aircrew squadron of the

Royal Auxiliary Air Force The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), formerly the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), together with the Air Force Reserve, is a component of His Majesty's Reserve Air Forces (Reserve Forces Act 1996, Part 1, Para 1,(2),(c)). It provides a primary rein ...

. During World War II, it operated as 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 ...

. Post-war it served shortly as a transport squadron in the

RAuxAF The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), formerly the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), together with the Air Force Reserve, is a component of His Majesty's Reserve Air Forces (Reserve Forces Act 1996, Part 1, Para 1,(2),(c)). It provides a primary rein ...

History

World War II

No. 622 Squadron was first formed at

RAF Mildenhall Royal Air Force Mildenhall or RAF Mildenhall is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as a Royal Air Force station, it primarily supports United States Air Force (USAF) operations, ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

on 10 August 1943, equipped with Stirling Mk.III bombers, as part of 3 Group in

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

. It re-equipped with Lancaster Mk.III bombers in December, after briefly operating Lancaster Mk.Is that month. It operated in Bomber Command's Main Force as part of No 3 Group until April 1945 when it moved to humanitarian duties dropping food to the Dutch (

Operation Manna Operation Manna was the codeword for a World War II, Second World War operation by the British and Greek forces in Greece in mid-October 1944, following the gradual withdrawal of the Axis Occupation of Greece, German occupying forces from the c ...

), repatriating POWs ( Operation Exodus) and ferrying troops home from Italy. The Squadron was disbanded at Mildenhall on 15 August 1945.

1950 to 1953

Unlike many of its contemporaries 622 Squadron was reformed post-war as a

transport squadron at

RAF Blackbushe Royal Air Force Blackbushe or more simply RAF Blackbushe is a former Royal Air Force station in Hampshire, England, during the Second World War. It is now Blackbushe Airport. History The station was opened on 1 November 1942 as RAF Hartford Brid ...

on 15 December 1950. It now operated Valettas and consisted of a nucleus of regular pilots and Radio Officers drawn from local firm Airwork Ltd. This proved to be a success, and the squadron operated in the Suez conflict. The squadron disbanded again on 30 September 1953 due to cost. The C/O was the famous Wing Commander Bob McIntosh (All weather Mac) who was, previous to this, the Chief Pilot of Airwork Ltd. The crews had two weeks a year extra training at RAF Dishforth where two of its Radio Officers,P/O Abrahams and P/O Jellett achieved the rare RAF VIP standard.

Current role

Originally formed as 1359 Flight RAF, it was attached to a Hercules OCU (Operational Conversion Unit), based at

RAF Lyneham Royal Air Force Lyneham otherwise known as RAF Lyneham was a Royal Air Force station located northeast of Chippenham, Wiltshire, and southwest of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The station was the home of all the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transpor ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

in 1994 for a 3-year trial period. After the success of the trial, its role expanded over the years to provide aircrews to all

air transport Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

and

air-to-air refuelling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft ...

aircraft of the RAF. It moved to RAF Brize Norton in 2011. On 1 October 2012, in recognition of its continued work with the main squadrons, the flight was authorised by the Standing Committee of the Royal Air Force to be rebadged as 622 (Reserve Aircrew) Squadron. According to its website, the mission statement is as follows:

Aircraft operated

Squadron bases

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

622 Squadron entry at RAF's official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 622 Squadron Raf Bomber squadrons of the Royal Air Force in World War II 622 Squadron Squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945