About This Unit
No. 186 Squadron (RAF)
No. 186 Squadron (RAF) is included on this site because it was one of the many RAF units to which a majority of Australian aircrew were posted during WW2, under the Empire Air Training Scheme, and in which they served, fought and often died.
No 186 Squadron (RAF) had several iterations in WW2.
The 'No. 186' was first assigned on 1 April 1918 at East Retford, to a unit providing night pilot training for home defence and on the Western front. On 31 December 1918 it was reformed as an operational shipboard unit aboard HMS Argus. In 1919, the squadron became a torpedo development unit, renumbering to become 210 Squadron on 1 February 1920.
The Squadron reformed again, on 27 April 1943, at RAF Drem as a fighter-bomber squadron, eventually receiving its first Hurricanes IICs in August, after transferring to RAF Ayr. It later converted to Hawker Typhoons and later, Spitfire VBs. The squadron was renumbered as 130 squadron on 5 April 1944.
Six months later, on 5 October 1944, No. 186 reformed as part of No. 3 Group Bomber Command. It was one of a number of squadrons formed late in the war that had a relatively short but frenetic operational life. The squadron was equipped as a Bomber Command Lancaster unit, based at Tuddenham, and flew its first bombing raid 13 days later. It relocated to RAF Stradishall in December 1944.
The squadron's first raid was an attack on Bonn on 18 October, and it remained part of the main bomber force until the end of the war. The squadron's late arrival in Bomber Command meant it suffered comparatively limited losses, with operational losses of four aircraft in 1944 and nine in 1945, for a total of thirteen.
Not all operational losses were caused by the Germans. One No.186 Squadron Lancaster was lost on 27 February when its bombs failed to release in their pre-planned order, instead all dropping at the same time. The single 4,000lb smashed into the larger number of 1,000lbs causing an explosion that destroyed the aircraft.
On another occasion 'O' for 'Oboe' failed to take off properly crashing beyond the runway and the bomb load detonated, killing all on board.
A relatively large number of Australians served in the squadron as is evidenced from the number of dark blue uniforms in various squadron photos.
The squadron was disbanded on 17 July 1945.
Stories
A List of raids flown by No.186 Squadron 3 Group Bomber Command
This list is a work in progress and is incomplete as it is being compiled from fragmentary records of individual airmen.
No. !86 Squadron commenced operations as a Heavy Bomber Unit in October 1944
15 October 1944
First raid of the reformed 186 Squadron. Francis John COOK aircraft lost.
20 October 1944
John Robert FREERS AIrcraft shot down by night fighter on raid to Stuttgart Germany, over Luneville , NW France
Wallace Patrick BURTON aircraft lost.
Herbert Keith COOMBE aircraft lost
Arthur Edward Jarvis STILES aircraft lost
George Edward WILLIAMSON. DFC aircraft lost
11 January 1945
152 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H raid on the railway yard in the Uerdingen suburb of Krefeld. No aircraft lost.
13 January 1945
158 Lancasters of No 3 Group attacked the railway yards at Saarbrücken. The bombing appeared to be accurate, though with some overshooting. 1 Lancaster crashed in France.
16 January 1945
1138 Lancasters of No 3 Group attacked the benzol plant at Wanne-Eickel. No results known. 1 Lancaster lost.
28 January 1945
153 Lancasters of No 3 Group attacked the railway yards at Cologne/Gremberg in conditions of good visibility. Some of the bombing fell on the target but some overshot. 3 Lancasters were lost and 1 crashed in France.
2/3 February 1945
495 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups to Wiesbaden. 3 Lancasters crashed in France. This was Bomber Command's one and only large raid on Wiesbaden. There was complete cloud cover but most of the bombing hit the town. 5 important war industries along the banks of the Rhine were untouched but the railway station was damaged.
14 Febraury 1945
Dresden raid. 20/21 February 1945. William Charles JAMES aircraft lost.
514 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups attacked Dortmund in Bomber Command's last large-scale raid on this target. 14 Lancasters lost. The intention of this raid was to destroy the southern half of Dortmund and Bomber Command claimed that this was achieved.
22 February 1945
167 Lancasters of No 3 Group in forces of 85 and 82 aircraft to oil refineries at Gelsenkirchen and Osterfeld. A Film Unit Lancaster of No 463 Squadron, No 5 Group, accompanied the Gelsenkirchen force. Both targets were accurately bombed in clear weather conditions. 1 Lancaster lost from the Gelsenkirchen raid.
25 February 1945
153 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H attack on the synthetic-oil refinery at Kamen. 1 Lancaster lost.
26 February 1945
149 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H attack on the Hoesch benzol-oil plant at Dortmund through cloud. No results were seen but the bombing appeared to be concentrated. No aircraft lost.
28 February 1945
156 Lancasters of No 3 Group in a G-H raid on the Nordstern synthetic-oil plant at Gelsenkirchen. No aircraft lost.
1 March 1945
151 Lancasters of No 3 Group attacked an oil plant at Kamen through cloud.
4 March 1945
128 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H attack through cloud on Wanne-Eickel. No results were seen.
6 March 1945
119 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H attack through cloud on the Wintershall oil refinery at Salzbergen. 1 lost.
7/8 March 1945
526 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups raided Dessau. 18 Lancasters lost, 3.4 per cent of the force. This was another devastating raid on a new target in Eastern Germany with the usual town centre, residential, industrial and railway areas all being hit.
10 March 1945
155 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H attack on the oil refinery at Scholven/Buer. Photographs taken later showed this to have been a very accurate and effective raid. No aircraft lost.
12 March 1945
1,108 aircraft - 748 Lancasters, 292 Halifaxes, 68 Mosquitos attacked Dortmund. This was another new record to a single target, a record which would stand to the end of the war. 2 Lancasters lost. Another record tonnage of bombs - 4,851 - was dropped through cloud on to this unfortunate city. The only details available from Dortmund state that the attack fell mainly in the centre and south of the city. A British team which investigated the effects of bombing in Dortmund after the war says that, 'The final raid … stopped production so effectively that it would have been many months before any substantial recovery could have occurred’.
14 March 1945
169 Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out G-H attacks through cloud on oil plants at Datteln and Hattingen (near Bochum). Both attacks appeared to be accurate but no results were seen. 1 Lancaster lost from the Hattingen raid. Kenneth Barry KEMMIS aircraft lost
4/5 April 1945
327 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitos of Nos 3, 6 and 8 Groups attacked the synthetic-oil plant at Leuna. The target was cloud-covered, the bombing was scattered and only minor damage was caused. 2 Lancasters lost. 186 Squadron lost FOff Beck's aircraft and crew.
9/10 April 1945
591 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 3 and 8 Groups to Kiel. 3 Lancasters lost. This was an accurate raid, made in good visibility on two aiming points in the harbour area. Photographic reconnaissance showed that the Deutsche Werke U-boat yard was severely damaged, the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer was hit and capsized, the Admiral Hipper and the Emden were badly damaged. The local diary says that all 3 shipyards in the port were hit and that the nearby residential areas were severely damaged.
13/14 April 1945
377 Lancasters and 105 Halifaxes of Nos 3, 6 and 8 Groups to Kiel. 2 Lancasters lost. This raid was directed against the port area, with the U-boat yards as the main objective. Bomber Command rated this as 'a poor attack' with scattered bombing.
18 April 1945
969 aircraft - 617 Lancasters, 332 Halifaxes, 20 Mosquitos - of all groups attacked the naval base at Heligoland, the airfield and the town on this small island. The bombing was accurate and the target areas were turned almost into crater-pitted moonscapes. 3 Halifaxes were lost.
20 April 1945
100 Lancasters of No 3 Group bombed the fuel-storage depot at Regensburg accurately. 1 Lancaster lost. This was the last raid in the current campaign against German oil targets which had been waged since June 1944. Much of Bomber Command's effort during this period, sometimes at considerable loss, had been devoted to these oil operations, which had helped not only the Allied ground forces on the Western Front but also those fighting in Italy and on the Eastern Front.
Submitted 23 January 2022 by Steve Larkins
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