No. 504 (County of Nottingham) Squadron was one of the Special Reserve Squadrons of the Auxiliary Air Force, and today is a reserve force of the RAF Regiment. It was integrated into the AAF proper in 1936. Based at RAF Cottesmore, Rutland, 504 Squadron used a variety of light bombers before being re-tasked to fighters with the Hawker Hurricane in 1939. It subsequently became a Fighter Squadron. Currently No. 504 Squadron no longer has a flying role, but as part of No 85 Expeditionary Logistics Wing of the RAF A4 Force...
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Sources: Royal Air Force
Crash in which the 504 squadron was involved:
* Crash of Hurricane L1639 fallen to Chaussée-N.D-Louvignies on 15/05/1940
* Crash of Hurricane L1941 fallen to Brussels on 14/05/1940
No. 514 Squadron was formed at Foulsham, Norfolk, on 1st September 1943, as a heavy-bomber squadron in No. 3 Group. Beginning operations (in November 1943) with Lancaster IIs, it gradually changed over to Lancaster Is and IIIs during the summer of 1944, and, in all, over a span of 18 months, flew 3,675 operational sorties. Its personnel won 1 DSO, 84 DFCs, 1 bar to the DFC, and 26 DFMs. Immediately before the German capitulation the squadron dropped food supplies to the starving Dutch people and, subsequently, its aircraft were busily employed on ferrying liberated POWs to England from France and Belgium.
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Sources: Royal Air Force
Crash in which the 514 squadron was involved:
* Crash of Lancaster LM180-JI-G to Bavegem on 13/08/1944
* Crash of Lancaster NN775-JI-F2 fallen to Bunsbeek 5/03/1945
* Crash of Lancaster LL639-JI-R fallen in Roermond (NL) on 11/04/1944
* Crash of Lancaster DS784-JI-C fallen to Namur on 18/11/1943
* Crash of Lancaster LM180-JI-G fallen to Bavegem on 13/08/1944
* Crash of Lancaster LL652-JI-C fallen to Ophasselt on 28/05/1944
o. 515 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force formed during the Second World War. It ushered in Electronic countermeasures (ECM) warfare, jamming enemy radar installations from October 1942 as the only such squadron in the RAF initially. Later in the war 515 Sqn was joined by other squadrons as part of No. 100 Group RAF. The squadron disbanded after VE day, when the need for such a specialised squadron had reduced...
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Sources: Royal Air Force
Crash in which the 515 squadron was involved:
* Crash of Mosquito NS957-3P fallen to Ciney on 19/03/1945
* Crash of Mosquito PZ293-3P fallen to Florennes on 15/07/1944
* Crash of Mosquito NS847-3P fallen to Bazel on 2/05/1944
Formed from 'H' & 'L' Flights of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit at Leuchars on 19 October 1942.
Equipped with Mosquitoes, it operated over Norway and the Baltic. Detachments from bases further south, also operated over France and Italy and during Operation Torch, another detachment operated over North Africa.
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Sources: Royal Air Force
Crash in which the 540 squadron was involved:
* Crash of Mosquito DZ358-KN-O fallen to Silly (Hainaut on 8/12/1942
* Crash of Mosquito NS654 fallen to SSteinfeld (D) on 17/10/1944
The squadron formed at RAF Benson on 19 October 1942 and was equipped with Spitfires to fly missions over Europe. It also received Mustang aircraft in July 1944 and operated some Lancaster bombers for UK mapping purposes after hostilities ceased. One of the squadrons first commanders following its formation was John Saffery...
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Sources: Royal Air Force
Crash in which the 541 squadron was involved:
* Crash of Spitfire PL919-Q fallen outside the borders: Bleiaf (D)
Formation in World War II:
The squadron formed at RAF Benson on 19 October 1942 and was equipped with Spitfires to fly missions over Europe, until it disbanded on 27 August 1945 after hostilities ceased.
Postwar:
The squadron reformed at RAF Wyton on 15 May 1955 and operated Canberras before disbanding again on 1 October 1955. It reformed the following month from 1323 Flight and was detached to Australia to conduct nuclear test surveys before it disbanded again upon renumbering to 21 Squadron on 1 October 1958.
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Sources: Royal Air Force
Crash in which the 542 squadron was involved:
* Crash of Spitfire AB340 fallen to Ursel on 26/01/1943
Formed at the same time as No's 540 - 543, 19 October 1942, also at Benson, it operated a variety of types including Spitfires, Wellingtons and Ansons.
The Wellingtons were used to experiment with night photography, whilst the Spitfires operated from Gibraltar. Mosquitoes were received in March 1943 and these became the squadron's only type in October 1943, when the Spitfires in Gibraltar were transferred to No 541 Squadron.
By the end of the war it was operating the latest marks of Mosquito, the PR 32 and 34 and in February 1945 formed part of the courier service for the Yalta conference. It also carried out survey work before disbanding at Benson on 13 October 1945
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Sources: Royal Air Force
Crash in which the 542 squadron was involved:
* Crash of Manchester L7494 fallen off coast on 11/08/1944
The 550 squadron was formed at RAF Waltham (near Grimsby), Lincolnshire on 25 November 1943 from 'C' Flight of 100 Squadron. Equipped with Avro Lancasters, they began
operating in the same month, as part of No. 1 Group RAF. On 26/27 November, 8 of their Lancasters were dispatched to make bombing runs over Berlin; 7 succeeded, with
the other failing to return after the mission.
In early 1944, it was moved to RAF North Killingholme, Lincolnshire where it continued operations over German targets until May 1945, when it began dropping food over the Netherlands as a relieve effort as part of Operation Manna. The squadron completed 3,582 operational sorties with the Lancaster with a loss of 59 aircraft.
It was disbanded at North Killingholme on 31 October 1945, the same day that North Killinghome closed
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Sources: Royal Air Force
Crash in which the 550 squadron was involved:
* Crash of Lancaster LM 425-BQ-N to Jalhay on 31/03/1944
* Crash of Lancaster ME 581-BQ-D to Berinzenne on 23/04/1944
* Crash of Lancaster DV 309-BQ-S to Westerlo on 22/05/1911
* Crash of Lancaster LL 851-BQ-V to Sint-Niklaas on 22/05/1944
* Crash of Lancaster LL810-BQ-H to Lichtervelde on 28/05/1944
* Crash of Lancaster JA712-BQ-K to Rebecq on 28/05/1944
* Crash of Lancaster PD255-BQ-T to Rebecq on 3/11/1944
