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Ivan Berryman Art Aviation Art Royal Air Force Halifax

[UP] - Spitfire - Hurricane - Mosquito - Beaufighter - Lancaster - Halifax - Wellington - Stirling - Vulcan - Blenheim - Anson - Battle - Sunderland - Lightning - Typhoon - More Aircraft - Red Arrows - The Shuttleworth Collection - RAF Print List





Ivan Berryman Halifax Aviation Art Prints, Paintings and Drawings
Aviation Art

Operation Ebensburg by Ivan Berryman.


Operation Ebensburg by Ivan Berryman.
9 editions.
4 of the 9 editions feature up to 4 additional signatures.
£2.70 - £1800.00

Friday the 13th by Ivan Berryman.


Friday the 13th by Ivan Berryman.
4 editions.
One edition features an additional signature.
£1.80 - £80.00

D-Day Invasion : Tribute to the Glider Troops by Ivan Berryman.


D-Day Invasion : Tribute to the Glider Troops by Ivan Berryman.
5 editions.
3 of the 5 editions feature an additional signature.
£2.70 - £1000.00


Unseen and Deadly by Ivan Berryman.


Unseen and Deadly by Ivan Berryman.
7 editions.
2 of the 7 editions feature an additional signature.
£2.70 - £1100.00

SOE Drop by Ivan Berryman.


SOE Drop by Ivan Berryman.
8 editions.
4 of the 8 editions feature up to 4 additional signatures.
£2.70 - £1100.00

White-out at Breighton - Tribute to No.78 Squadron by Ivan Berryman.


White-out at Breighton - Tribute to No.78 Squadron by Ivan Berryman.
8 editions.
One edition features 3 additional signatures.
£2.70 - £1900.00


Operation Mallard by Ivan Berryman.


Operation Mallard by Ivan Berryman.
12 of 13 editions available.
All 6 editions featuring up to 2 additional signatures are available.
£2.70 - £500.00

Halifax Mk.III NA337 by Ivan Berryman.


Halifax Mk.III NA337 by Ivan Berryman.
12 of 13 editions available.
All 5 editions featuring an additional signature are available.
£2.70 - £500.00

No.76 Squadron Halifax by Ivan Berryman.


No.76 Squadron Halifax by Ivan Berryman.
6 editions.
3 of the 6 editions feature up to 12 additional signatures.
£2.70 - £400.00



Text for the above items :

Operation Ebensburg by Ivan Berryman.

Sunday 8th April 1945. Halifax B.II Series 1 (Special) JP254 of 148 Special Duties Squadron, RAF piloted by Pilot officer Bill Leckie is depicted approaching the drop zone near to the Alt Aussee salt mine in the Austrian Alps to drop four SOE agents and their equipment whose mission it was to secure and protect 6,755 items of the world's greatest works of art that had been looted and stored by the Germans as they swept across Europe. With the allied forces closing in, the Germans had planned to blow up the entire store to prevent the artworks from falling into the hands of the liberators. Once on the ground, the four agents linked up with local resistance fighters and the mine and its valuable contents were eventually secured, the explosives made safe and the entire cache taken into the safe keeping of the 80th US Infantry Division as the German occupation of Europe crumbled.


Friday the 13th by Ivan Berryman.

Sadly, but two examples of the Handly Page Halifax exist today - the unrestored W1048 at the RAF Museum at Hendon, and the Yorkshire Air Museums pristine LV907 Friday the 13th, a rebuild from the remains of HR792. In this portrait of one of Bomber Command's oft-forgotten workhorses, the original Friday the 13th is set against a stunning evening cloudscape.


D-Day Invasion : Tribute to the Glider Troops by Ivan Berryman.

A tribute to the glider crews and airborne troops who participated in the glider operations during D-Day. The British Horsa glider (known as the flying coffin) was used by British, Canadian and American airborne forces during the invasion. Approximately 100 glider pilots were killed or wounded during the D-Day operations.


Unseen and Deadly by Ivan Berryman.

Having survived the bombing raid on Karlsruhe, it was the cruelest of ironies that Halifax III LK789 (MP-L) of 76 Sqn should fall victim to a lone German fighter that was lurking in the night skies above Norfolk. Witnessed by another Halifax, LK785 (MP-T), the upward firing waist guns of Lt Wolfgang Wenning's Messerschmitt Me410 of II/KG51 found their mark, expertly exploiting the blind spot of the Halifax, sending LK789 down in flames near Welney, killing all but one of her crew. Wenning's victory was to be short lived, however, the German being killed in a mid air collision with an RAF Airspeed Oxford just three days later during another intruder operation over the midlands.


SOE Drop by Ivan Berryman.

Halifax B.II Series 1 (Special) JP254 of 148 Special Duties Squadron, RAF is depicted over the drop zone near to the Alt Aussee salt mine in the Austrian Alps as two of the four SOE agents exit the bomber via the crew access door. Their mission was to secure and protect 6,755 items of the world's greatest works of art that had been looted and stored by the Germans as they swept across Europe. With the allied forces closing in, the Germans had planned to blow up the entire store to prevent the artworks from falling into the hands of the liberators. Once on the ground, the four agents linked up with local resistance fighters and the mine and its valuable contents were eventually secured, the explosives made safe and the entire cache taken into the safe keeping of the 80th US Infantry Division as the German occupation of Europe crumbled.


White-out at Breighton - Tribute to No.78 Squadron by Ivan Berryman.

With the departure of No 1 Group in May 1943, No 4 Group's 78 Sqn Halifaxes arrived at Breighton in Yorkshire from where they would continue to operate until the end of the war. Halifax III LW291 (EY-M) is depicted snowbound in the Winter of 1944, not long before it was lost over Grossmutz whilst taking part on a raid on Berlin on 20th January 1944.

Crew of EY-M :

Pilot : Flight Sergeant F Moffat RCAF (killed),
Navigator : Flying Officer W McGreggor RCAF (killed),
Bomb Aimer : Flying Officer R Selman RCAF (killed),
Wireless Operator : Flight Sergeant H H Bennett (taken prisoner),
Flight Engineer : Sergeant N Legg (killed),
Rear Gunner : Sergeant W Ruelhoff (killed,
Mid-Upper Gunner : Sergeant J Stewart (killed).


Operation Mallard by Ivan Berryman.

Halifax Tugs Towing Hamilcar Gliders. Halifax glider tugs of 644 Squadron based at Tarrant Rushton head out across the English Channel with their Hamilcar gliders as part of Operation Overlord in June 1944. The mighty Hamilcar was capable of carrying an 8-ton payload, which was the equivalent of two Tetrarch light tanks, and was used both in the Normandy invasion and at Arnhem.


Halifax Mk.III NA337 by Ivan Berryman.

One of 6,176 Halifaxes built during World War II, NA337(2P-X) was shot down over Norway on 23rd April 1945. In 1995 it was recovered from the lake that had been its watery home for fifty years and has now been restored by the Halifax Aircraft Association in Ontario, Canada.


No.76 Squadron Halifax by Ivan Berryman.

Halifaxes of No.76 Squadron RAF en route to another night bombing raid over Germany. The lead aircraft here has code MP-L. Serial numbers for aircraft were unique, but codes like MP-L were transferred after an aircraft was lost. A total of 10 aircraft carrying the codes MP-L were lost from No.76 Squadron.
These aircraft were :

L9530 : Shot down 12th-13th August 1941.
R9452 : Crashed 12th-13th April 1942.
W7660 : Shot down 19th-20th August 1942.
W7678 : Lost 3rd-4th March 1943.
DK172 : Shot down 23rd-24th May 1943.
DK200 : Crashed 11th-12th June 1943.
LK922 : Shot down 21st-22nd January 1944.
LK789 : Shot down 24th-25th April 1944.
MZ622 : Crashed 24th-25th May 1944.
LL579 : Crashed 27th February 1945.


Halifax
Pilot and aircrew signature details





Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC OM DSO** DFC*
Our estimated value of this signature : £75
Died : 1992

Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC OM DSO** DFC*

One of the most courageous and determined bomber leaders of World War II, Leonard Cheshire flew four operational tours, starting in June 1940 with 102 Squadron on Whitley bombers at RAF Driffield. In November 1940, he was awarded the DSO for getting his badly damaged aircraft back to base. He completed his first tour in January 1941, but immediately volunteered for a second tour, this time flying Halifaxes with 35 Squadron. He became Squadron Leader in 1942, and was appointed commanding officer of 76 Squadron later that year. Leonard Cheshire ordered that non-essential weight be removed from the Halifax bombers in a bid to increase speed and altitude, hoping to reduce the high casualty rates for this squadron. Mid-upper and nose turrets were removed, and exhaust covers taken off, successfully reducing the loss rate. In July 1943 he took command of 617 Squadron. During this time he led the squadron personally on every occasion. In September he was awarded the Victoria Cross for four and a half years of sustained bravery during a total of 102 operations, leading his crews with careful planning, brilliant execution and contempt for danger, which gained him a reputation second to none in Bomber Command. Sadly, Leonard Cheshire died of motor neuron disease on 31st July 1992, aged 74.





Warrant Officer Reg Cleaver
Our estimated value of this signature : £35

Warrant Officer Reg Cleaver

Served with 419 (Moose) Squadron RCAF. Reg Cleaver was a Flight Engineer and Co-pilot on Halifaxes until On his 17th operation on 24 June 1943, on a raid to Wuppertal, his aircraft was shot down by German Fw190 nightfighters. After initially evading capture he was eventually captured in Holland where he was beaten by the Gestapo and taken as a PoW to Stalag Luft 6 until the end of the war. He died aged 89 when his car hit a tree in Brandon, he was given a funeral with full military honours at St. John the Baptist Church in Brinklow.





Flight Lieutenant Tommy Coles DFC
Our estimated value of this signature : £20

Flight Lieutenant Tommy Coles DFC

Having completed training as a pilot, he joined 158 Sqn with whom he completed 37 Operations on Halifaxes and was awarded the DFC





Warrant Officer Tom Cosby
Our estimated value of this signature : £25

Warrant Officer Tom Cosby

Having completed his training as a Flight Engineer he served on Halifaxes with 578 Sqn but was shot down in March 1944 on his 12th Op by a German night fighter. He was eventually captured and spent was a PoW until his liberation at the end of the War.





Flying Officer Jack Easter
Our estimated value of this signature : £20

Flying Officer Jack Easter

Joining the RAF in 1940 he was a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner on both Halifaxes and Liberators with 148 Sqn which served on Special Duties carrying out supply drops and pick-up missions to resistance groups. Before leaving the RAF in December 1945 he had completed 75 Operations and over 500 hours of flying.






Warrant Officer Harry Irons DFC
Our estimated value of this signature : £40
Died : 2020

Warrant Officer Harry Irons DFC

Joining the RAF at the age of 16 in 1940, he did 2 full tours as a Rear Gunner with 9 Squadron and took part in nearly all the famous raids of Bomber Command. He finished in 1945 at 158 Squadron flying Halifaxes. 'I had just turned 18 when we went on a gunnery school course. After that six-week training, we usually went for a further three months training to an Operational Training Unit. It so happened that 9 Squadron had just converted from Wellingtons to Lancasters and they were 14 air gunners short on the squadron, so they posted us from gunnery school after six weeks' training straight to the squadron. 'When I got there, I was approached by a Flt Lt Stubbs, who said to me: 'You're my new gunner. We've got a gunner already but he's been flying Wellingtons and he doesn't want to be a rear gunner. He wants to go in the mid-upper turret. You'll be the rear gunner.' But, he said, on my first raid, the best thing for me to do would be to go on the mid-upper turret. 'That way you can see exactly what's going on,' he said. 'My first raid in Lancasters with 9 Squadron was to Dusseldorf on September 10th, 1942. Every time we went on a bombing raid, we had to do an air test first. We would test our guns, test the bomb sight, test the hydraulics, test the engines, and when you landed, if everything was OK, you told the engineers that everything was fine for the raid. As we landed, the armourers arrived with the bomb load. I still remember now, it was one 4,000 pounder - one huge, fat bomb - and 1,200 incendiaries. 'Our bomb aimer was an 'old sweat'. We used to call him 'The Old Boy'. He was 26. He said that with that bomb load we had, we were definitely going to the Happy Valley. When we returned to the mess, we got ready to go to the briefing. We were briefed and the curtain came down off the target and there it was - Dusseldorf. 'That's right,' said the bomb aimer to me, 'that's where we are going, Dusseldorf.' Most of our raids were on the Ruhr Valley and the reason why I am alive now is because - I don't know why - but I never went to Berlin. I wouldn't be talking to you now if I had been to Berlin. I can assure you. 'We put all our gear on. It took about half an hour for the air gunner to get dressed with all the clothing. I clambered into the mid-upper turret and off we went. As we crossed the Dutch coast, I could see we were about 1,400 or 1,500 feet over the coast. I could see a huge number of lights coming up. Far below us there was light flak, in beautiful colours, but it never touched us because we were a little too high. 'We crossed over Holland and the bomb aimer said: 'We are approaching the target, Skipper,' so I decided to swing my turret around and have a look. I was absolutely shocked by what I saw. I could not believe my eyes seeing what was in front of me. The flak, the guns, the lights, the search lights. It was incredible and I was really, really, really frightened. The plane was bouncing about. Then the bomb aimer said: 'Bomb doors open' and in we go straight and level. 'On my left I could see an aircraft on fire going down, and one below us I could see exploding. And I thought to myself: 'We're in for something here!'. I could not believe that we were going to fly through this huge explosion. But we went through it. Then the pilot was talking to the bomb aimer, and the bomb aimer said: 'We have missed the target, Skipper. We're going to have to go round again.' And I thought: 'Dear, oh dear, we've got to go all the way round, come back and go through all that again.' Which we did. And on the second run, we dropped our bombs. 'Bomb doors closed. On the way home. Flying back, there were problems with the oxygen, so the skipper – he was 21 and on his second tour, and old hand – took us down lower. We had to drop below 10,000 feet, and as we crossed the Dutch coast, the light flak opened up. It was absolutely hair-raising. There were hundreds and hundreds of these lights flashing past us but, strangely enough, not one of them hit us. 'When we got back, we landed and had a look at our aircraft. There were about 10 or 15 holes, two or three inches wide, across the fuselage, flak holes caused by shrapnel from the shells. We must have caught them on the Dutch coast. We were lucky but I've seen much worse. We went in for a briefing, had a coffee and went to bed. That was my first raid. Later, I found out, that our skipper, who had finished his tour, unfortunately got killed during training a couple of weeks later.'
Harry Irons died on 10th November 2020.





Flt Lt Eric Kemp DFC
Our estimated value of this signature : £40

Flt Lt Eric Kemp DFC

Flew with 578 Squadron on Halifaxes







Pilot Officer Bill Leckie, AEM, KW
Our estimated value of this signature : £50
Died : 2021

Pilot Officer Bill Leckie, AEM, KW

Bill Leckie was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 23rd June 1921, joined the Royal Air Force in June 1941 and went to St Johns Wood on the 15th of September 1941. Bill Leckie started his flying training on the 4th of April 1942 at Stoke Orchard near Cheltenham in Tiger Moths. He went to Canada on the 26th of May 1942 at Monkton for further training until June before going on to Detroit and on to Pensacola, Florida on the 1st October 1942, flying Stearman and Catalina Flying boats until 31st March 1943 when Bill went to Prince Edward Island for further training. Back in the UK, Bill was expecting to join a Coastal Command squadron flying Catalinas but was transferred to Bomber Command and a conversion course on to Whitleys at Kinloss Scotland on the 22nd of February 1944, and joined 77 Squadron at Full Sutton on the 19th July 1944 on Halifaxes, flying 6 bombing missions, one being the bombing of the Flying Bomb Factory at Russesheim, before transferring to 148 Special Duties squadron on the 19th of August 1944 and going to Brindisi. Pilot Officer Bill Leckie was involved in the dropping of supplies (guns, ammunition and food) to the Polish during the Warsaw uprising. This was a costly mission and many aircraft were lost. (Bill was flying Halifax JD319 (FS - G). For his efforts in air-dropping supplies during this period, Bill Leckie was awarded the Polish Cross of Valour (KW). Pilot Officer Bill Leckie was also the Pilot for Operation Ebensburg on Sunday 8th April 1945. Halifax B.II Series 1 (Special) JP254 of 148 Special Duties Squadron carried out the misison to drop four SOE agents and their equipment near Alt Aussee salt mine in the Austrian Alps. Thier mission was to secure and protect 6,755 items of the worlds greatest works of art that had been looted and stored by the Germans as they swept across Europe. With the allied forces closing in, the Germans had planned to blow up the entire store to prevent the artworks from falling into the hands of the liberators. Once on the ground, the four agents linked up with local resistance fighters and the mine and its valuable contents were eventually secured, the explosives made safe and the entire cache taken into the safe keeping of the 80th US Infantry Division as the German occupation of Europe crumbled. Bill Leckie stayed with 148 Squadron until 18th May 1945 when he was posted to Cairo with 216 Squadron (Dakotas) of Transport Command and on 1st January 1946 to 78 Squadron flying Dakotas again until 1st June 1946 , finally leaving the RAF on the 18th September 1946. He died in October 2021.





Warrant Officer Dennis Slack
Our estimated value of this signature : £25

Warrant Officer Dennis Slack

Upon completing his training on Wellingtons, Dennis was assigned to 158 Sqn as a Bomb Aimer on Halifaxes. In 1943 he was shot down whilst on a raid to Berlin and spent the rest of the war as a PoW in Stalag Luft IV b.





Flight Lieutenant Tom Wingham
Our estimated value of this signature : £25

Flight Lieutenant Tom Wingham

With 76 Sqn he was a Bomb Aimer on Halifaxes before his aircraft was shot down on a mission to Dusseldorf on 22nd April 1944. Using several well-organised 'escape lines', which were set up by local civilians throughout parts of Europe to help keep evading aircrew fed and clothed, he eventually made it through to Allied Lines on 13th September 1944.





Halifax
Squadron details



No.102 Sqn RAF
Country : UK
Disbanded 27th April 1963
Known Codes : , DY, EF, TQ,


No.102 Sqn RAF

Ceylon

Tentate et perficite - Attempt and achieve

No. 102 squadron was formed at Hingham in Norfolk in August 1917 and was equipped with FE2b and FE2ds and operated as a night bomber squadron. 102 squadron went to France and operated behind German lines with their main targets being railway stations, railway lines, and railway trains, specialising in night attacks. In March 1919 after the war had finished, 102 squadron returned to Britain and disbanded on the 3rd of July 1919. On the 1st of October 1935, 102 squadron was reformed at RAF Worthy Down with the role again as a night bomber squadron, initially using Handley Page Heyford aircraft. In October 1938, 102 Squadron became part of the newly formed No.4 group of Bomber Command based at RAF Driffield and was now equipped with the new Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bomber. 102 squadron dropped leaflets in the night from 4th to 5th September 1939 over Germany. The squadron spent six weeks on convoy escort duty under the command of Coastal Command from 1st September until 10th October 1940 flying from Prestwick. 102 Squadron returned to bomber command and soon after Leonard Cheshire won his DSO. On the night of 12th/13th November 1940, Whitley V P5005 found itself slightly off course above the primary target due to problems with the intercom. Changing instead to a secondary target, some railway marshalling yards near Cologne, Pilot Officer Leonard Cheshire suddenly felt his aircraft rocked by a series of violent explosions that caused a severe fire to break out in the fuselage, filling the cockpit with acrid black smoke. As DY-N plunged some 2,000 feet, Cheshire managed to regain control and the fire was eventually extinguished. For bringing his aircraft safely home to 102 Squadrons base after being airborne for eight and half hours, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. 102 Squadron continued for the next thirty-six months to fly night sorties (including the thousand bomber raids) over Germany. In 1944 the squadron attacked rail targets in France in preparation for the invasion. In February 1942 the squadron was adopted by the island of Ceylon, which paid for aircraft for use by the squadron. The squadron transferred to Transport Command on 8th March 1945 and in September 1945 re-equipped with Liberators. The squadrons main role was the return of troops and POWs back from India and it disbanded on the 28th of February 1946. No.102 Squadron used the following aircraft : Fe2b from August 1917 to July 1919. Handley Page Heyford from October 1935 to May 1939 - specifically Mk.II from October 1935 to April 1937 and Mk.III from December 1935 to May 1939. Armstrong Whitworth Whitley from October 1938 to February 1942, specifically Mk.IV from October 1938 to January 1940 and Mk.V from November 1939 to February 1942. Handley Page Halifax from December 1941 to September 1945, specifically Mk.II from December 1941 to May 1944, Mk.III from May 1944 to September 1945 and Mk.VI from July 1945 to September 1945. Consolidated Liberator Mks.VI and VIII from September 1945 February 1946. English Electric Canberra B.2 from October 1954 to August 1956.



No.148 Sqn RAF
Country : UK
1956 was detached to Malta for attacks on Egyptian airfields during the Suez operation. In April 1965, the Squadron was disbanded after the grounding
Known Codes : , FS, AU, BS,


No.148 Sqn RAF

Trusty

The squadron was formed at Andover Aerodrome on 10 February 1918, it moved to Ford Junction Aerodrome on 1 March 1918 where it was equipped with the Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2b and moved to France on 25 April 1918. squadron's outstanding operations was a low bombing attack on Rumbeke airfield on 20th May in which five direct hits were scored on hangars. Another notable raid was that made on Mons railway station on the night of 4th November. Two journeys were made; the second in a wind of gale force and in all 54x112-lb and 108x25-lb bombs were dropped. A number of awards, including 4 DFCs and 1 DFM, were made to the squadron It returned to the UK on 17 February 1919 and disbanded at Tangmere on 4 July 1919. In June 1937, No. 148 Squadron was re-formed at Scampton as a long-range medium-bomber unit. It was equipped with one Wellesley and six Audaxes at first, but in July some more Wellesleys arrived and the Audaxes were allotted away. It moved to Stradishall in March 1938, and in September was re-mustered as a heavy night-bomber unit and re-equipped with some Heyford Ills formerly used by No. 99 Squadron. Changing to Wellington Is in March 1939, and in July six Wellingtons took part in a mass flight of Bomber Command aircraft to Bordeaux Soon after the war had begun, No.148 moved to Harwell and, equipped with Wellingtons and Ansons, became a training squadron in No.6 Group. Early in April 1940, it was absorbed into No.15 OTU, later re-formed in Malta in December 1940 - again as a bomber squadron equipped with Wellingtons - taking part in the North African and Italian campaigns. After the war the Squadron moved to Egypt until 15 January 1946 when it was disbanded being reformed again in November 1946 with Lancasters which were replaced with Lincolns in January 1950. disbanded again on 1st July 1955. On 1st July 1956, it reformed at Marham with Valiants as part of the V-bomber Force and in October 1956 was detached to Malta for attacks on Egyptian airfields during the Suez operation. In April 1965, the Squadron was disbanded after the grounding of the Valiants.



No.620 Sqn RAF
Country : UK
Disbanded 1st September 1946
Known Codes : , D4, MOHC, QS,


No.620 Sqn RAF

Transport Command

Dona ferentes adsumas - We are bringing gifts



No.644 Sqn RAF
Country : UK
Disbanded 1st Spetember 1946
Known Codes : , MOHD, 2P, 9U,


No.644 Sqn RAF

Special Duties

Dentes draconis serimus - We sow the dragon's teeth



No.76 Sqn RAF
Country : UK
Disbanded 31st December 1960
Known Codes : , MP, NM,


No.76 Sqn RAF

Resolute



No.78 Sqn RAF
Country : UK
78 Squadron was disbanded on 30 September 2014
Known Codes : , EY, ED, YY,


No.78 Sqn RAF

Nemo non paratus - Nobody unprepared

No. 78 Squadron was formed as part of the Royal Flying Corps on 1 November 1916 for home defence at Harrietsham and tasked with protecting the southern English coast. It was originally equipped with obsolescent BE2 and more modern BE12 fighters. changing to Sopwith 1½ Strutters in late 1917, followed by Sopwith Camels in mid-1918. It arrived at Sutton's Farm, under the command of Major Cuthbert Rowden, in September 1917 and was there until December 1919, with a detachment at Biggin Hill. The squadron disbanded on 31 December 1919 re-formed in 1936 as a heavy-bomber squadron and in the second world conflict served with the Yorkshire-based No.4 Group. Beginning operations with Whitleys in 1940, it converted to Halifaxes in 1942 and continued with that type of aircraft for the rest of the European war. Among the highlights of No. 78's war record was its participation in the historic 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne on 30/31st May 1942; the epic raid on Peenemunde on 17/18th August 1943; and the attack on the coastal gun battery at Mont Fleury on 5/6th June 1944, in direct support of the invasion of Normandy. In February 1941, No. 78 Squadron supplied the Whitleys and some of the crews (other crews were provided by No. 51 Squadron) which figured in Operation Colossus, the first Allied airborne operation of the war and the one in which British paratroops destroyed a large aqueduct at Tragino in southern Italy. From July to October 1942, No.78 Squadron was commanded by Wing Commander JB Tait, who later led the combined force of Lancasters from Nos. 617 (the squadron he then commanded) and 9 Squadrons which, using 12,000Ib Tallboy bombs, destroyed the Tirpitz in Tromso fjord. No. 78 flew, a total of 6,337 sorties comprising 6,017 bombing sorties and 320 minelaying sorties; made 302 bombing raids and bombed 167 different targets; dropped approximately 17,000 tons of bombs - 7,000 tons (i.e. more than a third of the total) between D-Day and VE Day; successfully laid 1,064 mines; and destroyed 31 enemy aircraft and damaged 35. The squadron's own losses totalled 182 aircraft. On 7th May 1945, No.78 Squadron was transferred from Bomber Command to Transport Command.converting to Dakotas, moved to Egypt. Here, No 78 took up route flying around the Mediterranean, North Africa and Middle East, receiving Vallettas in 1950, before disbanding at Fayid, Egypt at the end of September 1954. No 78 took up route flying around the Mediterranean, North Africa and Middle East, receiving Vallettas in 1950, before disbanding at Fayid, Egypt at the end of September 1954. On 24 April 1956, No 78 Squadron reformed, this time in Aden as a tactical transport unit equipped initially with Pioneers and then the larger Twin Pioneer. Detachments were undertaken all around the region, and it was felt that some sort of firepower capability should be added to the aircraft, and so guns were mounted in the rear entrance and missiles fitted under the wings. In 1962, the unit achieved what is believed to be the first firing of a guided missile by the RAF in an attack against rebel forces in Aden - quite an achievement for a transport squadron! No 78 Squadron was disbanded in December 1971. The Squadron reformed on 22 May 1986 when No. 1310 Flight, operating Boeing Chinooks, and the Westland Sea King HAR.3 equipped No. 1564 Flight merged at RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands Originally operating the Chinook HC.1, these were later replaced with HC.2s. From 1988 to 2007, No. 78 Squadron was the only RAF squadron permanently based in the Falkland Islands. The four Tornado F3s which provide air defence are operated by No. 1435 Flight, while No. 1312 Flight operated a single Vickers VC10 and one Lockheed Hercules C.3. n December 2007, No. 78 Squadron reverted to its previous identity of No. 1564 Flight and a new No. 78 Squadron formed at RAF Benson as part of the Joint Helicopter Command, flying the Merlin HC3 and the new Merlin HC3A helicopters purchased from Denmark. By 2008, the total fleet of twenty eight RAF Merlin helicopters will be operated in a pool with 28 (AC) Squadron, also based at RAF Benson 78 Squadron was disbanded on 30 September 2014




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