No. 622 Squadron RAF

Air and ground crews of William G O'Brien - No 622 Sqn

Brief History

No. 622 Squadron was first formed at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk on 10 Aug 1943, equipped with Stirling Mk.III bombers, and began operations on the same night. It re-equipped with Lancaster Mk.III bombers in December. 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), repatriating POWs (Operation Exodus) and ferrying troops home from Italy. The Squadron was disbanded at Mildenhall on 15 August 1945.

The squadron flew 195 Stirling sorties on 41 missions, losing 7 aircraft, a loss rate of 3.6%. After converting to the Lancaster it flew 227 missions and 2,805 sorties, losing 44 aircraft, a loss rate of only 1.6%. The squadron converted to the Lancaster in December 1943, so the new bomber was used during some of the hard battles early in 1944

Squadron Personnel

• † William James (Jim) Morcombe 10 Sep - 18 Nov 1943 - KIA 18 Nov 1943 over Germany