No. 97 (Straits Settlements) 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 formed on 1 December 1917 at Waddington,

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 ...

World War I

The squadron formed on 1 December 1917 at

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England. The station is the RAF's Intelligence Surveillance Target A ...

, and was initially a training unit.Melinski ''Air Pictorial'' October 1971, p. 389. The squadron re-equipped with the

Handley Page O/400 The Handley Page Type O was a biplane bomber used by Britain during the First World War. When built, the Type O was the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and one of the largest in the world. There were two main variants, the Handl ...

heavy bomber before moving to France in August 1917. In total, it flew 91 bombing sorties and dropped 64 tons of bombs before the end of the First World War.

Between the Wars

From 17 November 1918, 97 Squadron was based at RAF Saint Inglevert, departing on 4 March 1919, and re-equipping with the Airco DH.10 Amiens. The squadron was later posted to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, where it remained until disbanding on 1 April 1920, after being re-numbered No. 60 squadron. The squadron reformed on 16 September 1935 at

RAF Catfoss Royal Air Force Catfoss or more simply RAF Catfoss is a former Royal Air Force station during the Second World War. It was located west of Hornsea, Yorkshire, England and north-east of Leconfield, Yorkshire, with the nearest village being Bra ...

, and was equipped with the

Handley Page Heyford The Handley Page Heyford was a twin-engine biplane bomber designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Handley Page. It holds the distinction of being the last biplane heavy bomber to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The ...

World War II

97 Squadron Manchester at RAF Coningsby WWII IWM CH 4154

The squadron was disbanded again in April 1940. The squadron reformed again on 25 February 1941 at Waddington, and was equipped with the

Avro Manchester The Avro 679 Manchester was a British twin-engine heavy bomber developed and manufactured by the Avro aircraft company in the United Kingdom. While not being built in great numbers, it was the forerunner of the famed and vastly more successful ...

bomber. Later the squadron was re-equipped with the

Avro Lancaster 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 Stirlin ...

, and in April 1943 became a

pathfinder Pathfinder may refer to: Businesses * Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International * Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature Computing and information science * Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser * Pathfinder ( ...

force squadron. The squadron also trained several pilots who were later transferred to

617 Squadron Number 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron, originally based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and currently based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. It is commonly known as "''The Dambusters''", for its actions during Operation Chastis ...

to participate in

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by ...

Postwar

In July 1946, the squadron re-equipped with the

Avro Lincoln The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed Lincoln I and ...

, and remained operational until disbanding at

Hemswell Hemswell is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated just north of the A631 on the Lincoln Cliff escarpment, west from Caenby Corner and east from Gainsborough. According to the 2001 Ce ...

on 1 January 1956. The squadron was reformed - as 97(SM) Sqn. - on 1 December 1959 as one of 20 Strategic Missile (SM) squadrons associated with

Project Emily Project Emily was the deployment of American-built Thor intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) in the United Kingdom between 1959 and 1963. Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command operated 60 Thor missiles, dispersed to 20 RAF air stations ...

. The squadron was equipped with three

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

Intermediate range ballistic missile An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km (1,864–3,418 miles), between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ba ...

s. and based at

RAF Hemswell Royal Air Force Hemswell or more simply RAF Hemswell is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located east of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Located close to the village of Hemswell in Lincolnshire, England the disestablished airfield i ...

. In October 1962, during the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

, the squadron was kept at full readiness, with the missiles aimed at strategic targets in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. The squadron was disbanded on 24 May 1963 when the Thor Program in Britain was terminated. The squadron was then reformed again, via the re-numbering of No. 151 Squadron. The reformation took place at

RAF Watton Royal Air Force Watton or more simply RAF Watton is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of East Dereham, Norfolk, England. Opened in 1937 it was used by both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) d ...

on 25 May 1963, the squadron flying the

Vickers Varsity The Vickers Varsity is a retired British twin-engined crew trainer operated by the Royal Air Force from 1951 to 1976. Design and development The Varsity was developed by Vickers and based on the Viking and Valetta to meet Air Ministry Speci ...

T.1, Canberra Mk B.2 and the Hastings C.2. On 2 January 1967 the squadron was disbanded for the final time, still at Watton.

References

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External links