Air Force Index

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No. 186 Squadron Royal Air Force    No 186 Squadron was formed on 1st April 1918 as a night training unit for home defence and the Western Front. It became an operational shipboard unit aboard HMS Argus in 1919 before it moved to Gosport as a torpedo development unit, but was renumbered to become 210 Squadron on 1st February 1920. On 27th April 1943, No 186 was re-formed as an army-support fighter-bomber squadron, initially without aircraft. In August it moved to Ayr and received its first Hurricane bombers. It converted to Typhoons in November 1943, but replaced them in March 1944 with Spitfire Vbs for cross-channel sweeps. In April 1944 the squadron was renumbered 130 Squadron. No 186 re-formed as a heavy-bomber squadron in October 1944 from C Flight of No 90 Squadron, a Lancaster unit in Bomber Command. It continued attacks on enemy targets for the rest of the war. After VE Day it took part in the dropping of food to the Netherlands and transported released POWs back to Britain. No 186 was disbanded in July 1945. Airfields No. 186 Squadron flew from: RAF Drem, East Lothian (formed the 27th April 1943, no aircraft) RAF Ayr, Ayrshire from the 3rd August 1943 (Hurricane IV, Typhoon Ib) RAF Tain, Ross from the 7th January 1944 (Spitfire Vb) RAF Lympne, Kent from 1st March 1944 renumbered as No 130 Squadron, the 5th April 1944. RAF Tuddenham, Suffolk from 5th October 1944 (re-formed from 90 Squadron with Lancaster I, Lancaster III) RAF Stradishall, Suffolk from 17th December 1944; Disbanded 17th July 1945.   27th April 1943 New army cooperation squadron formed June 1943 No aircraft for new squadron 3rd August 1943 Squadron moved on 11th August 1943 Squadron receives aircraft at last 31st August 1943 Rocket firing Hurricanes delivered 1st September 1943 Training programme planned 13th September 1943 Pilots missing on exrcise 13th October 1943 Rocket firing practice 14th September 1943 Search for missing aircraft 15th September 1943 Missing pilot found 16th September 1943 Second missing pilot found 25th September 1943 Full establishment 24th October 1943 Pilot killed on low flying exercise 29th October 1943 Mid-air collision 15th November 1943 Typhoons delivered 19th November 1943 Influenza 25th November 1943 Collision on the ground 30th November 1943 Equpped 29th December 1943 Pilots killed in mid-air collision 7th January 1944 Training proceeded 7th January 1944 Relocated and new C.O. 11th January 1944 Training programme 1st February 1944 Crashed at sea 7th February 1944 Postings 19th February 1944 Postings 22nd February 1944 Practice for new pilots 25th February 1944 New pilots arrive in time for move 26th February 1944 Move delayed 27th February 1944 Heavy snow disrupts move 1st March 1944 Relocated and re-equipped 11th March 1944 Spitfire Squadron becomes operational 13th March 1944 Pilot missing on practice flight 15th March 1944 Squadron's first Ramrod operation 5th April 1944 Squadron renumbered 5th October 1944 New Lancaster Squadron to be formed 9th October 1944 Senior officers arrive at New Squadron 11th October 1944 First flight crews arrive 15th October 1944 Lancaster missing 16th October 1944 186 Squadron independently operational 18th October 1944 First bomber op by 186 Squadron 19th October 1944 Lancaster crashed over France 2nd November 1944 Lancaster crew safe after crash in Holland 20th November 1944 Lancaster missing 6th December 1944 Rear gunner missing 16th December 1944 Farewell party 17th December 1944 Move completed 1st January 1945 New radar equipment 5th January 1945 Lancaster landed at Rheims 16th January 1945 Unexplained crash 3rd February 1945 Lancaster lost at Dortmund 7th February 1945 Bomber formation broken up 8th February 1945 Lancaster exploded over target 13th February 1945 Operation Thunderclap 22nd February 1945 Routine day 27th Feb 1945 186 Squadron Lancaster lost 9th March 1945 Lancaster Flight transferred 16th March 1945 New C.O. 23rd March 1945 Attack on Wesel 4th April 1945 Mid-air collision 9th April 1945  Attack on Kiel 13th April 1945  Collision over base 29th April 1945 Operation Manna 29th April 1945  Operation Manna 3rd May 1945  Operation Manna 5th May 1945 Cigarettes and chocolate dropped 10th May 1945  Operation Exodus If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Logbooks Do you have a WW2 Flying Log Book in your possession? If so it would be a huge help if you could add logbook entries to our new database. Thank you. View Logbook entries Those known to have served with No. 186 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War 1939-1945. Beer DFM. Harold William. Flt.Sgt. Gray Phillip. Herriot Frank Sidney. LAC. Honnor Herbert Frederick. WO. Hosier Ron. McFalls DFC James. W/O (d.16th November 1946) Murphy John Rodgers. Sgt (d.14th Feb 1945) O'Brien DFC. Jack Dennis. F/O. Sunley John Robert. Sgt. (d.15 October 1944) Templeton DFC. Gordon McNab. P/O. Trathen Kenneth. Winton Edward Prosper. F/O (d.20th Nov 1944) Wright James Benjamin. F/O. 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. 186 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 25 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 16th Jan 2025 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 265273 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQs The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about No. 186 Squadron Royal Air Force? There are:2065 items tagged No. 186 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. Kenneth Trathen 186 Squadron Kenneth Trathen acted as a Royal Air Force photographer in the Second World War. Janet Jones Nee Trathen Add to this record. WO. Herbert Frederick Honnor 186 Squadron Herbert Honnor served with 186 Squadron and 76 Squadron I have come across my father's Observers and Air Gunners Flying Log Book which details training and flight records from 28th February 1941 through to 21st August 1945. There are also 6 Wireless Operators (Air) Logs detailing information of individual operations to Saarbrucken, Yaan Eickel, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Dessau and Potsdam. Ian Honnor Add to this record. Flt.Sgt. Harold William "Geordie" Beer DFM. 186 Squadron William beer served as Rear Gunner with 186 Squadron, RAF. Add to this record. P/O. Gordon McNab "Timmy " Templeton DFC. 186 Squadron Timmy Templeton flew with my dad and I wondered if anyone had a photo? Mark Add to this record. F/O. Jack Dennis O'Brien DFC. 186 Squadron Jack O'Brien served with 186 Squadron and was awarded the DFC in 1945. My sister and I are trying to obtain more information on our father. He died as a civilian on 14th March 1955 and we have very little information. If anyone has any information or photos we would be most grateful. Pauline Hawkswell Add to this record. F/O. James Benjamin Wright 186 Squadron My dad, James Wright served as navigator with 186 Squadron on Lancasters flying out of Tuddenham, then Stradishall, from February to June 1945, flying 18 missions over Germany. His pilot was F/Lt Head. John Wright Add to this record. LAC. Frank Sidney Herriot 90 Squadron Frank Herriot served in the RAF with 90 and 186 squadron, at Dumfries, Gibraltar, Tuddenham, Stradishall and in Italy. M Herriot Add to this record. Phillip Gray 186 Squadron My name is Philip Gray, born in Ladybank on the east side of Scotland. During WWII I was a pilot with 186 Squadron, Stradishall, Suffolk. This was a heavy bomber squadron using Lancasters Marks I and III. My crew were - F/Sgt. Gerry Merrick, navigator. F/Officer Jack Marner, air bomber. F/Sgt. Harry Jenkinson, Wireless operator. F/Sgt. Frank Parkhouse, enginer. F/Sgt. Ivor 'Blondie' Foster, mid-upper gunner. F/Sgt. Clin Booth, rear gunner . We bombed Gelsenkirchen four times, the target each time being a coking plant where the Germans made synthetic petrol. These plants were located all over the Reich. In all we took part in 16 raids on Germany. It's all there in my book 'Ghosts Of Targets Past' published by Grub Street, London, which is now in its third edition and 10th print. I've had favourable reports on this book from all over the planet. I earned my 'wings', pilots brevet, at Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona, USA. As the war faded away in 1945 we were occupied with the 'clean up' jobs - Operation Mana, dropping food to the people of The Netherlands. Operation Exodus, flying back ex-POWs from France to GB. Operation Baedeker, low flying over Germany to allow ground crews and admin staff to monitor the bomb damage. Operation Post Mortem, testing German radar . Leaving Bomber Command I carried out two mini tours of duty for Transport Command at Syerston airfield, towing military gliders and dropping food to British farmers. In the mid 1950s on invitation, NOT AN ORDER, I flew for Fighter Command on the Island of Sylt, West Germany, as a staff pilot. There I flew Hawker Tempests, Mosquitos and Meteors on the four air-to-air firing ranges. For the record we lost more pilots there than on my bomber squadron during WWII. We were under the command of the 2nd Tactical Army on the Rhine. There was an emergency of one kind or another every single day on the Island of Sylt during that time. With club flying in both Scotland and New Zealand I then went on to fly for 46 years in all. Philip Gray Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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