No. 467 Squadron RAAF

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No. 467 Squadron was formed at Scampton on 7th November 1942, as a heavy-bomber squadron in No. 5 Group. In the latter part of that month it moved to Bottesford and after spending almost a year there returned to Lincolnshire - to Waddington, where it remained based for the rest of the European war.

Equipped with Lancasters, the squadron took part in all the major Bomber Command campaigns against Germany and German-occupied Europe-the Battles of the Ruhr, Hamburg, and Berlin, the attacks supporting Operation Overlord, etc.- and such other famous operations as the raids on Peenemünde, the V-weapons research station, and Gdynia, where the German battleship Lützow was sheltering. The squadron helped to inaugurate the so-called shuttle-bombing raids when, after attacking Friedrichshafen on 20th/2lst June 1943, it flew to North Africa and on the return flight bombed Spezia, the home of the Italian Navy.

No. 467 flew one of the most famous Lancasters in Bomber Command: R5868, a Mk. 1, which flew 137 operational sorties-more than any other RAF heavy bomber with the exception of Lancaster ED888 "Mike-Squared" (see No. 103 Squadron history). Originally "Q-Queenie" of No. 83 Squadron, R5868 logged 79 sorties (the first against Wilhelmshaven on 8th/9th July 1942, the 79th against Milan on 12th/13th August 1943) before joining No. 467 Squadron in November 1943, and becoming "S-Sugar". It resumed operations on 26th/27th November with a sortie against Berlin, and logged its 100th operation on 11th/12th May 1944, when the target was Bourg Leopold in Belgium. Its last operational sortie - to Flensburg on 23rd April 1945-was disappointingly anticlimactic: owing to 10/10 cloud no bombs were dropped. After the war "S-Sugar" was selected by the Air Ministry for preservation, and today it can be seen standing proudly in the Bomber Command Hall at the RAF Museum, Hendon.

Bomber Command WWII Bases:
Formed 7.11.42 as No. 467(B) Squadron at

• Scampton : Nov 1942
• Bottesford : Nov 1942-Nov 1943
• Waddington : Nov 1943 onwards

Bomber Command WWII Aircraft:

• Avro Lancaster : Nov 1942 onwards

Code Letters:

• "PO"

First Operational Mission in WWII:

• 2nd/3rd January 1943 - 1 Lancaster laid mines in Furze (St. Jean de Luz) area & 4 more Lancasters laid mines in Elderberry (Bayonne) area.

Last Operational Mission in WWII:

• 25th/26th April 1945 - 14 Lancasters bombed an oil refinery & storage tanks at Vallo (Tonsberg).

Last Mission before VE Day:

• 6th May 1945 - 11 Lancasters ferried ex-POWs home to UK from Continent.

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