Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

No. 83 Squadron RAF - Bomber Command

No. 83 Squadron RAF is listed here because it was one of many RAF units, particularly in Bomber Command, to which RAAF personnel were posted under the Empire Air training Scheme, and in which they lived served and often died.  Known collectively as 'odd bods' these RAAF personnel could find themselves almost anywhere on the globe serving with the RAF.  Odd bods represented the single largest cohort of WW2 casualties among Australian servicemen in WW2.

Having originally formed during WW1, the squadron re-formed at RAF Turnhouse in Scotland on 4 August 1936, equipped with Hawker Hind biplanes for day bombing as part of No. 2 Group. On 14 March 1938, the squadron joined No 5 Group at Scampton and re-equipped with Handley Page Hampdens in October 1938.

No. 83 Squadron went into action on the first day of the Second World War, carrying out a sweep over the North Sea looking for German warships. The squadron continued with 'precision' raids against German naval and coastal targets but as the daylight operations became more costly, Bomber Command switched to night operations. The squadron flew against concentrations of invasion shipping in the Channel Ports in the late summer and autumn of 1940, with a raid on Antwerp on the night of 15 September resulting in the award of a Victoria Cross to Flight Sergeant John Hannah, a wireless operator/gunner for extinguishing a serious fire while receiving severe burns. 

Hampdens and their 'peer' aircraft, medium bombers such as Whitleys and Blenheims, all proved vulnerable and they were progressively replaced in Bomber Command.  In December 1941, the squadron was re-equipped with Avro Manchesters, which did not have a happy time in RAF service due to their underpowered and unreliable engines. 

The Manchester was in fact the precursor of the legensdary Avro Lancaster and they bore a striking resembalnce to one another particularly forward of the empennage (tail plane) with the obvious difference being the Lancaster had four Rolls Royce Merline powerplants.  Lancasters were to prove to be a war-winner and had just started to appear in numbers, and No. 83 Squadron covnerted to the new aircraft. They were a quantum leap in capability being fast, and carrying a prodigous bomb load.  They were universally very popular with their crews..

In August 1942, the squadron was transferred to the No. 8 Group Pathfinder Force at RAF Wyton, operating as a marker unit for the main force of Bomber Command.  In April 1944, No. 83 Squadron was returned to No. 5 Group at RAF Coningsby, where it became the Pathfinder unit for independent operations by the Group.

 
There exists a small Memorial Stone for the killed crew of a shot-down Lancaster of 83 (Pathfinder) Squadron. in Heusenstamm, Germany.

After the War, in May 1946, the squadron re-equipped with Avro Lincolns, relocating in October to RAF Hemswell. It deployed to Singapore in September 1953, flying bombing missions against the Communist insurgents during the Malayan Emergency, returning to Hemswell in January, where it remained until disbanding again in December 1955.

Compiled by Steve Larkins, Jan 24

Sources:

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._83_Squadron_RAF