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- No. 108 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War -


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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

No. 108 Squadron Royal Air Force



   No 108 Squadron was formed at Stonehenge aerodrome on the 11th of November 1917. In July 1918 it went to Dunkirk and served as a day bomber unit on the Western Front until the end of hostilities. It was disbanded on 3rd July 1919.

The Squadron was reformed at Upper Heyford on 4 January 1937, when 'B' Flight of No 57 Squadron was raised to squadron status. Initially flying Hinds, they were re-equiped with Blenheims in June 1938. However, in September 1939, 108 squadron joined No 2 Group and began carrying out operational training for the group. It was amalgamated with No 104 Squadron to form No 13 Operational Training Unit on 8th April 1940.

No. 108 Squadron reformed on the 1st of August 1941 at Kabrit in Egypt as a night bomber squadron, equipped with Wellingtons. Operations began the following month, bombing targets in Libya and Greece. In November 1941 it operated the first few RAF Liberators to be equipped as bombers alongside the Wellingtons. The Squadron hosted a Special Flight operating under the control of the Special Operations Executive supporting partisan groups in Greece and Yugoslavia. In July 1942 the Liberators were removed and the squadron was reduced as a single flight of Wellingtons, but was disbanded on 25th December 1942.

The Squadron was again reformed on the 1st of March 1943, this time as a night fighter unit, from a nucleus transferring from No 89 Squadron at Shandur, in Egypt. Equipped with Beaufighters the squadron operated over Egypt and Libya. Between June 1943 and July 1944, the squadron operated in the night intruder role from Hal Far and Luqa in Malta, also flying some Mosquito XIIs, before a short period in Syria and then going to Libya to attack targets in Greece and the Aegean area. Following the German withdrawal in October 1944, the squadron moved to Greece and took part in operations against the Communist rebels trying to take control of the country. In March 1945 it moved to Italy, where it disbanded on 25 March.

Airfields No. 108 Squadron flew from:

  • RAF Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire from 3rd to 17th September 1939;
  • RAF Bicester, Oxfordshire from 17th September 1939 to 8th April 1940 when it became 13 OTU.

  • Reformed Kabrit, Egypt from 1st August 1941 to 25th December 1942 (then disbanded).

  • Reformed Shandur, Egypt from 15th March to June 1943;
  • Luqa, Malta from June 1943 to July 1944;
  • Aleppo, Syria August 1944;
  • Libya from August to October 1944;
  • Greece from October 1944 to March 1945;
  • Italy March 1945 (disbanded).


 

1st Sep 1939 Orders

2nd Sep 1939 Orders

5th Sep 1939 Dispatch

7th Sep 1939 Training

15th Sep 1939 Training

17th Sep 1939 On the Move

18th Sep 1939 On the Move

19th Sep 1939 Training

24th Sep 1939 Duties

30th Sep 1939 Strength

1st October 1939 Postings

2nd Oct 1939 Training

3rd Oct 1939 Training

4th Oct 1939 Training

5th Oct 1939 Training

10th Oct 1939 Aircraft Lost

11th Oct 1939 Postings

12th Oct 1939 Aircraft Move

13th Oct 1939 Exchange

17th Oct 1939 Training

18th Oct 1939 Training

8th April 1940 Squadrons merged to form OTU

1st August 1941 New Squadron formed in Egypt

21 November 1941 Liberators received for trials

30th December 1941 Special Operations to Greece

1st January 1942 SoE sortie to Greece aborted

3rd January 1942 Successful supplies drop in Greece

11th January 1942 Test of the Liberator

5th February 1942 Liberators successful on trial

22nd February 1942 Flying accident

25th February 1942 Non-stop flight to Egypt

3rd March 1942 Liberator flight created

4th May 1942 Bomber shot down

28th June 1942 Bomber shot down

30th June 1942 Aircraft transferred

12th July 1942 Crashed on landing

30th September 1942 Saboteurs dropped into Greece

3rd October 1942 Ditched on Special Operations

3rd November 1942 Bomb attacks on troops

15th November 1942 Squadron dispersed

10th December 1942 Ferry Flight Missing

18th December 1942 Squadron disbanded

15th March 1943 Night fighter squadron formed

3rd June 1943 Move to Malta

5th February 1944 Mosquitos deployed

26th July 1944 Move to Egypt

12th August 1944 Crashed on Test

August 1944 Attacks on Greece

15th October 1944 Move to Greece

5th December 1944 Civil war in Greece

28th March Squadron disbanded in Italy


If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.



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Those known to have served with

No. 108 Squadron Royal Air Force

during the Second World War 1939-1945.

  • Aspell Everard Aloysius. Sgt. (d.3rd December 1942)
  • Bagnall DSO DFC & Bar. Douglas Rivers. Sqn Ldr.
  • Barlow William Thomas. (d.8th Aug 1944)
  • Buckler Henry Wilkinson Valentine. F/Lt.
  • Cooper Albert Digby. Sgt.
  • Fyfe Angus Graham. F/Lt.
  • Graham F.. Sgt.
  • Grain DFC. Ronald Francis.
  • Hall A. E.. Sgt.
  • Hunter George Albert Kitchener. Flt.Sgt. (d.28th June 1942)
  • James G. H.. LAC
  • Kerby Michael Joseph Stewart . Flt.Sgt. (d.12th May 1943)
  • McRae Roderick Head. Flt.Sgt. (d.11th June 1942)
  • Russell Henry Michael. P/O. (d.25th July 1942)
  • Smith Harry Allman. P/O
  • Smith Walter.
  • Streeting George. WO

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of No. 108 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources.



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Want to know more about No. 108 Squadron Royal Air Force?


There are:2051 items tagged No. 108 Squadron Royal Air Force available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.


Ronald Francis Grain DFC. 108 Squadron, 571 Squadron

108 Squadron in Tel Aviv

108 Squadron

My father Ronald Grain served as an RAF pilot from 1940-45 and later as a volunteer reservist and took part in 2 tours, with 108 squadron in Egypt during 1941 and over Germany during 1944/45. He also worked as a flying instructor at Kinloss for 2.5 years in between with 571 Squadron. He was awarded the DFC at the end of the second tour.

Kevin Grain



Sgt. Albert Digby Cooper 108 Squadron

Digby, Don Meacock and Fred Derry

Albert Cooper served with 108 Squadron, Royal Air Force.

Jennifer Elliott



P/O. Henry Michael Russell 108 Squadron (d.25th July 1942)

Henry Russell is my uncle. He is buried at the Alamein Cemetry in Egypt.

Howard Russell Nye



Sgt. Everard Aloysius Aspell 108 Squadron (d.3rd December 1942)

Everard Aspell was born in New Zealand of Irish parents. He enlisted with the RAF Reserve during the outbreak of war. We only found out about him recently when my brother, who lives in Sydney, Aus met up with another Everard Aspell, who is of the same family. His great great grandfather was the brother of my grandmother.

Not sure of the circumstances of his death but do know he died on Malta and is buried in (Capuccini) Naval Cemetery, Malta. I will do more research and will certainly go to Malta to pay respects.

Noel Ahearne



Flt.Sgt. Michael Joseph Stewart Kerby 108 Squadron (d.12th May 1943)

Michael Kerby served with 108 Squadron.

Brock Kerby



Sqn Ldr. Douglas Rivers Bagnall DSO DFC & Bar. 108 Squadron

Doug Bagnall served with No. 108 Squadron, RAF.

Andy Bagnall



Walter Smith 108 Squadron

September 1943, RAF Luqa, Malta

Two Walter Smiths.

Walter Smith was my father. I have photos of him on the aircraft at Luqa dated Sept 1943.

Graham Smith



William Thomas Barlow 108 Squadron (d.8th Aug 1944)

We have a cup in the Bury Table Tennis League league called the Barlow Cup. The Barlow Cup is named after a man named William Barlow who died serving the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 108 Squadron in 1944 in Alexandria, Egypt. I was able to find William Thomas's grave and as such learned he had a wife named Vera and he was the son of James & Florence Barlow. The Barlow Cup was presented to the Bury league by Vernon Peatfield in 1947. The winner of the open singles championships gets presented this cup. Twice throughout the years it has gone missing but we have it back now. We are getting it restored and it will look great when we have done this.

Both Bill & Vernon were National standard table tennis players in the late 1930s and are featured in a few magazine articles from 1938 & 39 but I cannot find them in any other post war magazines. Vernon & Bill were a formidable doubles team making many finals together. In addition to being doubles partners they were frequently opponents. Bill won the open singles tournament in Bury in 1937/38 and in the 1938/39 season Vernon & Bill were opponents in the open singles final with Vernon being victorious.

This cup has an engraving on the front of it relating to how Bill passed serving for the RAF on the 8th of August 1944. We have correspondence (the last) from Vernon from 1959 stating that even though he moved to Northampton he liked to keep in touch how the Bury League was performing.

Does anyone have any knowledge of anything relating to Bill Barlow or Vernon Peatfield within your memory banks or stores of information, Anything at all relating to Bill Barlow or Vernon Peatfield? Vernon was A Vernon Peatfield. We believe the A stood for Arthur and he possibly married a lady called Marjorie Naylor although this may be incorrect. Bill was W.T Barlow. Anyway, hoping you can help somehow, would love to hear from you.

Simon King



Sgt. A. E. Hall 108 Sqdn.

Blenheim L9039, of "D" Flight 130otu took off from Bicester for a formation cross-country exercise. It left the formation in cloud and, banking gently, it crashed on Carnedd Llewelyn 6 miles SSE of Bethesda, Caernarvon. It is thought that the pilot, Sgt A.E. Hall may have been dazzled by the sun after emerging from the cloud. Sgt. F. Graham LAC G.H. James

Alan



P/O Harry Allman Smith 108 Squadron

Wellington bomber 108 with many ops recorded

Harry Allman Smith, Pilot Officer 108 Squadron, 2nd July 1942 – 26th November 1942

My father Harry Smith joined the New Zealand Air Force in May 1941. He arrived in England from New Zealand via Canada on Christmas Eve 1941 and after various training courses involving spells at Honnington, South Cerney and Harwell/Mount Farm disembarked in the Middle East on 3rd June 1942 to join 108 Squadron. He served with the squadron as second pilot, flying Wellington 1c bombers from their desert airfield, based at Kilo 40, Kabrit, often at night. His targets were based around Tobruk, including the airfield, port and shipping, battlefields and transport movements in the area. His log book of course mostly just records times and dates and targets as well as statistics such as flying hours although he did occasionally note instances of “Caught in searchlight” “ Heavy flak” and on his 39th ops “Close call”. First pilots he flew with included Sgt Brookes, Ft Sgt Murray but mostly P/O Gunn. His last operational flight was a bombing raid on Heraklion airfield on Crete on November 23rd 1942, which was his 40th op. Also recorded were the aborted ops, usually due to an aircraft problem such as “port engine u/s” “dynamo u/s”, when the bomb load would be jettisoned on the way back to base. His last two flights (non ops) with 108 Squadron recorded in his Flying Log were in late November on 26th and 29th with Flight Sgt Murray as 1st Pilot, the laconic comments in the log book being respectively “Bags of fun” and “Cooks Tour”. Overall flying hours with 108 Squadron totalled 532.35 hrs. Of these Day Ops hour total was 26.55 hrs and Night Ops 213.35 hrs (He did 3 further bombing ops with 37 Squadron before transfer to 117 Squadron)

Stephanie Santaana







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