616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron
Royal Auxiliary Air Force

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"No Rose Without a Thorn"

The first Royal Auxiliary Airforce units were formed in the mid 1920's to expand the strength of the regular Air Force. 616 Squadron was the last of these being established at Doncaster airport in November 1938. Formed as a light bomber squadron they were Initially allocated Hawker Hinds with Avro Tutors and Avro 504's for pilot training. In 1939 they were reallocated to Fighter command and re-equiipped with the Gloster Gauntlet. Late in the summer of 1939 they re-equipped again with Fairey Battles and moved to Manston.

When the Auxiliary Air Force was absorbed into the Royal Air Force, 616 Squadron became part of 12 group. They moved to Leconsfield in October 1939 and received their first Spitfire Mk 1's, becoming fully operational in January 1940. First meeting the enemy while covering the Dunkirk Evacuations in May and June 1940 they later moved south to Rochford to become part of the Hornchurch Wing along with 19 & 65 Squadrons.

With the start of the Battle of Britain on August 12th the squadron was alerted to move south into the heart of the fighting. Before this could occur they went into action on 'Alder Tag' ("Eagle Day"), Hitlers last significant attempt to overwhelm the RAF in preparation for the invasion of England. That day they helped defeat the Luftwaffe by intercepting attacks from German bases in Norway and Denmark shooting down 8 JU88's.

On the 19th, 616 joined the Battle Of Britain in the south of England with 73 Squadron in 11 Group flying from Kenley. Involved in heavy fighting over the next two weeks the squadron acquitted itself well destroying 15 aircraft with six probables and nine more damaged. The price though was heavy with four pilots being killed, five injured and one taken prisoner. On the 3rd September they were rested from the main battle at RAF Coltishall being replaced by 66 squadron. The stay at Coltishall was short as they returned to their Yorkshire home of Kirton-in-Lindsay with a mix of new pilots and experienced pilots including their new commanding officer Sqn Ldr 'Billy' Burton. One of the new pilots was Plt Off JE 'Johnny' Johnson who go on to be the RAF's leading fighter WWII ace scoring 38 victories, he eventually retired from the RAF as an Air Vice Marshall.


"Johnie" Johnson

Although it became a training squadron for new pilots and offered a rest for those still involved in the fighting the squadron found itself quickly back in the thick of the action when a detatchment flew south to Fowlmere then onto Tangmere in late Febuary of 1941. Taking delivery of new Spitfire Mk II's they relieved 65 Squadron forming part of the Tangmere wing. The newly appointed wing leader Wg Cdr Douglas Bader elected to lead the wing at the head of 616 Squadron beginning a renowned period in the squadron's history.

On July 12th 1944 616 Squadron became the first Squadron in the RAF, and that of the Allies, to become operational with Jet aircraft. They first saw action with their new Gloster Meteor 1's on July 27th with 'anti-diver' patrols. These were interception and destroy missons against the German V1 flying or buzz bomb which first launched against on England soon after D-Day in June 1944. Their first V1 kill was by Flying Officer 'Dixie' Dean who flew up alongside the V1 and tipped it over after his cannon failed to fire. He was actually reprimanded for this action as it damaged the wingtip of what was considered a very rare and important aircraft. The allies overran the VI launching sites shortly after but not before 616 squadron could claim a total of 13 destroyed.

A detachment of four meteors were sent to Holland as a prelude to the squadron moving to the front line. Shortly after arrival on the continent they were painted all white so as to be easily seen by friendly troops. Before being painted white they had been confused with the German ME262 and had attracted friendly fire by ground troops and by other allied aircraft while on combat patrol. Once the remainder of squadron arrived in Holland in 1945 they were tasked with Ground Attack Missions at which they proved highly effective. In the short time that they were operational before the war ended in 1945 they destroyed a great many enemy trucks, trains and aircraft on the ground although they were unable to claim an air-to-air victory. Had they not been prevented from flying over enemy territory by orders designed to prevent the Meteor from falling into German hands they would probably have been even more successful.


616 Squadron fuselage Banner circa 1955

The last commander of the squadron was New Zealander Warren Scrader who took over on the 2nd May 1945. An ace on the Hawker tempest he commanded the squadron until it was disbanded on the 29th of August 1945, when it was renumbered 263 Squadron. It reformed again at Finningley in 1946 as part of the new Auxiliary Air Force as a designated night fighter squadron equipped with Mosquito NF 30's, albeit with most of their valuable radar equipment removed. In 1948 they once again became a day fighter unit operating Meteor 4's, 7's and F8's until finally being disbanded at Worksop in March 1957 with the rest of the Auxiliary Air Force.

There is an active 616 Squadron Association, several old faces still regularly attend including Dixie Dean and Johnie Johnson until his recent death. There are also exhibits including the squadron silver in a local Museum in Doncaster. For further information contact the secretary of the Association: Eric Browne on (01302) 539 650. Three websites have been found that relate to 616 Squadron which you can visit using the links below.

 

616 Squadron Red Two Battle Of Britain

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