HISTORY OF 460 SQUADRON

visits since 29 April 2000

VICKERS WELLINGTON Mk II

460 Squadron was originally a Wellington Squadron when it was formed around a nucleus of one flight from No. 458 Squadron on 15 November 1941 at Molesworth, Huntingdonshire as part of No. 8 Bomber group.

On 4 January 1942 No. 460 Squadron moved to Breighton in East Riding under 1 Group. The Commanding Officer for the new Squadron was Wing Commander A.L.G. Hubbard, DSO, DFC, 40050 RAF, 267508.  

The Squadron started operations on the night of 12-13 March when five Wellingtons were despatched against Emden. The first loss occurred the next flight when Z1251 failed to return from a raid on Dunkirk.

HALIFAX Mk II Series I

No 460 Squadron continued to operate with Wellingtons IVs until August 1942 when they began to be replaced by Halifax BIIs. The Halifaxes were never flown on operations, however, as a change of policy saw the squadron re-equipped with Lancaster BIs and BIIIs from October onwards. No 460 Squadron carried out some 5,700 sorties with Lancasters, attacking major targets in Europe.

AVRO LANCASTER

On 14 May 1943 the Squadron moved to Binbrook, Lincolnshire by air, using its own Lancasters and some Horsa gliders. The last operation was a day raid on Berchtesgaden on 25 April; twenty aircraft were despatched but NX585 failed to return.

A 'block buster' bomb being loaded at RAAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire.

Can anyone help me with the names of the "Bastards From the Bush" in the above photograph? - Peter Dunn

In July 1945 No. 460 Squadron moved to East Kirby, Lincolnshire, to become part of "Tiger Force", but was disbanded there on 2 October 1945. The Squadron is still connected with Bomber Command (now part of Strike Command) as in 1955 the Squadron Association presented the RAF with Medium Bomber Efficiency Trophy.

I would be very interested to receive any stories or recollections by former Air Crew of their time with 460 Squadron. I am also interested in borrowing any photographs of 460 Squadron that I can scan to place on this Home Page.

Click here to E-Mail me with any information on 460 Squadron.

  Back to 460 Squadron Page 

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

This page first produced 13 June 1997

This page last updated 10 April 2002