550 Squadron and RAF North Killingholme Association

Squadron Operations: Summary Information

Overview

There follows below a list of the all of the operations flown by 550 Squadron and the aircraft involved on each. The information used to build this page was taken in the first instance from the lists provided on the original Squadron Association web-site, but has been augmented by new information gathered since that time (squadron operations logs, individual aircrew log books, and other sources).

This information is not yet complete: it has been build from the a number of sources (documentary and people) and compilation of complete lists is an ongoing task that is expected to take quite some time to complete. So please don't shout just yet if you spot an omission - work continues to build a more complete, and accurate, list.
Do however shout if you spot an error! Please email any corrections or information to the contact details in the link at the bottom of the page.

Operation Summary: The column headers should be fairly self-explanatory. The term "aborted" as used here covers a number of possibilities:

the operation was cancelled before crews were briefed
the crews have been briefed as to the target, and in some cases the planes may even have been bombed up and the crews on-board at their stations awaiting take-off, before the op has been stood-down
finally a number of cases where the op was already under way and the planes en-route but for whatever reason the operation was aborted (e.g. the master bomber orders the attack cancelled due to weather conditions at target adversely affecting targeting).

Aircraft Deployed: When a link to a particular aircraft is given, this indicates aircraft known to have taken part in this raid (in the records currently available to the web-site author). A record of whether the aircraft returned or failed to return (FTR) is also logged.

Servicemen Deployed: Names of the crew in the operation.

Station Summary: This section is the information from the RAF North Killingholme Station Record Book for the operational date (if available).

Definitions of the abbreviations used are available: here.

Manageable Lists

The amount of data in the database is growing and this is resulting in the "all operations/targets" list getting rapidly bigger and thus slower to generate. There are options to display shorter, more quickly generated, reports if you want to home in on something specific. For example, there are options to generate reports on operations to a single target, or by single aircraft (to all targets) or by single aircraft to a single target. There is, on the database-reports summary page, a short user guide (PDF format) on how to do this.

Operation/Target: Calais (26 Sep 1944 - 26 Sep 1944)

Operation Summary
Target	Out	Back	Aborted (Y / N)	Comments
Calais	26 Sep 1944	26 Sep 1944	N	24 aircraft and crews again detailed, briefed and took off to blast the Hun who are still holding out of Calais. This time the weather was good enough to permit precision bombing which was successfully applied.

Aircraft Deployed			Servicemen Deployed
Aircraft Service Number	Returned or FTR	Comments	Crew Details
NG133	Returned	Primary 3000 at 12.33 hrs. [Ed: ORB says DB138 "F2", but can find no record of this service number and NG133 "F2" is assumed (since this service number was on ops 25/09/44 (and FTR 14 Oct 1944 to Duisburg)	F/L N L Rose (P) Sgt K L Willis (F/Eng) F/O R C Foote (Nav) F/O E G Caswell (A/B) Sgt G W Page (W/Op) F/O J S Tointon (MU/AG) Sgt G S Spragg (R/AG)

Operation/Target: Emmerich (07 Oct 1944 - 07 Oct 1944)

Operation Summary
Target	Out	Back	Aborted (Y / N)	Comments
Emmerich	07 Oct 1944	07 Oct 1944	N	Twenty five aircraft and crews were detailed and briefed, 24 took off at noon to attack Military objectives at EMMERICH in close support of the Allied Ground Forces. "F" (F/L Shaw) returned early owing to engine trouble. "C2" (F/O Hussey) failed to take off owing to compressor trouble. Emmerich, a small compact town on the North bank of the Rhine just inside Germany, serving as an important Railway Centre and a rendevous for troops and material was easily identified. The weather over the sea was cloudy, but clear with good visibility over the target. Markers were accurate and the town was soon covered by clouds of smoke, rising to a height of approximately 12,000 ft, from excellent fires at their base. Very good photographs were obtained showing a vivid picture of the attack. There is no doubt that much weaving was necessary over the target as the Flak was vicious and accurately predicted and more than one aircraft brought back evidence of this in the shape of Flak holes. The return journey was uneventful, except of a grandstand view of Cleves [Ed: Kleve. A town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine] which had also been attacked and was burning well. At the Base the weather had deteriorated with cloud down to the "deck" and for the second time running the aircraft were diverted, this time to Faldingworth and Blyton.

Aircraft Deployed			Servicemen Deployed
Aircraft Service Number	Returned or FTR	Comments	Crew Details
NG133	Returned	Primary 12,000 ft at 14.22 hrs.	F/O A Abrams (P) Sgt K W Nettleton (F/Eng) F/Sgt J W Brown (Nav) F/Sgt R F Veness (A/B) Sgt P L Brooker (W/Op) Sgt A P Soper (MU/AG) F/Sgt K R Salton (R/AG)

Operation/Target: Fort Frederick Hendrick (11 Oct 1944 - 12 Oct 1944)

Operation Summary
Target	Out	Back	Aborted (Y / N)	Comments
Fort Frederick Hendrick	11 Oct 1944	12 Oct 1944	N	27 aircraft and crews were offered for operations but only 18 were accepted. These were briefed and took off ay 14.30hrs without incident to attack military targets at FORT FREDERICK HENDRICK, where the Hun is making a stand despite the fact that he is entirely encircled by the Allied Army. An ultimatium to surrender within 24hrs to prevent unnecessary bloodshed was handed to the Garrison Commander, but no reply having been received this was the cause of the operation, which was to blast the Hun from his own doorstep. It was rather disappointing to the boys that only 18 aircraft were called for as all the Squadron wanted to participate. In addition to the operational sorties a useful training programme was laid on consisting of "Y" cross country, figther affiliation, air to air and air to sea firing exercises and bombing practice.

Aircraft Deployed			Servicemen Deployed
Aircraft Service Number	Returned or FTR	Comments	Crew Details
NG133	Returned	Abandoned. [Ed. ORB states NG138 "F2". According to Lancaster movement cards NG138 was never transferred to 550 Sqdn (see: http://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-78s/Lancaster/NG113-NG199/mobile/index.html). NG133 "F2" is therefore assumed (as cited as "F2" the ORB before loss on 14 Oct 1944, Duisburg operation).]	F/O A Abrams (P) Sgt K W Nettleton (F/Eng) F/Sgt J W Brown (Nav) F/Sgt R F Veness (A/B) Sgt P L Brooker (W/Op) Sgt A P Soper (MU/AG) F/Sgt K R Salton (R/AG)

Operation/Target: Fort Frederick Hendrick (12 Oct 1944 - 12 Oct 1944)

Operation Summary
Target	Out	Back	Aborted (Y / N)	Comments
Fort Frederick Hendrick	12 Oct 1944	12 Oct 1944	N	28 aircraft and crews were offered for operations but only 12, 11 plus one reserve and one crew detailed to act as the Base reserve aircraft. The crews were briefed to carry out yet another attack on FORT FREDERICK HENDRICK, which despite yesterdays attack was still holding out. All our eleven aircraft returned safely to base.

Aircraft Deployed			Servicemen Deployed
Aircraft Service Number	Returned or FTR	Comments	Crew Details
NG133	Returned	Primary 10,000 ft at 08.17 hrs. [Ed. ORB states NG138 "F2". According to Lancaster movement cards NG138 was never transferred to 550 Sqdn (see: http://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-78s/Lancaster/NG113-NG199/mobile/index.html). NG133 "F2" is therefore assumed (as cited as "F2" the ORB before loss on 14 Oct 1944, Duisburg operation).]	F/O A Abrams (P) Sgt K W Nettleton (F/Eng) F/Sgt J W Brown (Nav) F/Sgt R F Veness (A/B) Sgt P L Brooker (W/Op) Sgt A P Soper (MU/AG) F/Sgt K R Salton (R/AG)

Operation/Target: Duisburg (14 Oct 1944 - 14 Oct 1944)

Operation Summary
Target	Out	Back	Aborted (Y / N)	Comments
Duisburg	14 Oct 1944	14 Oct 1944	N	25 aircraft and crews were briefed to attack the large steelworks of August Thysson at Duisburg, the world largest inland port. 24 aircraft took off without incident at approx 06.30hrs to make their way through layer cloud which broke before the Rhiner but closed in again over the target and only the crew of "H" (F/O Bond) claim to have bombed the ground markers. "N" (F/S Hopman), "A2" (S/L Gainsford) and "E2" (F/O Stevenson) claim to have bombed their objectives on Navigational aids, the others endeavoured to obey the Master Bombers instruction to bomb any built up area they could see in the vicinity of the target. Several crews reported that the Thyssen works were identified and in flames and one crew reported having observed the demolition of a Rhine bridge. At least one good photograph was obtained by "C2" (F/O John) showing a carpet of bomb bursts on the Steelworks which has been enlarged and forwarded to the C in C for his inspection. F/O Abrams and F/O Dodds and their crews failed to return from this daylight raid in which approximately 1000 heavy aircraft with fighter cover took part.

Aircraft Deployed			Servicemen Deployed
Aircraft Service Number	Returned or FTR	Comments	Crew Details
NG133	FTR	Missing - no news after take off.	F/O A Abrams (P) Sgt K W Nettleton (F/Eng) F/Sgt J W Brown (Nav) F/Sgt R F Veness (A/B) Sgt P L Brooker (W/Op) Sgt A P Soper (MU/AG) F/Sgt K R Salton (R/AG)

Summary Statistics

Based on the data in the lists displayed above, and keeping in mind that data is still being updated and thus not yet complete, the following statistics are generated:

Aircraft Deployment Statistics

Aircraft deployments	5
MAX Aircraft deployed in single operation	1 (Calais, 26 Sep 1944)

These details were last updated: 17 January 2025

Note

this list is still being built and will take some time to complete
what is currently displayed is believed accurate but much more is still to be added

This note describes the options currently available to produce a smaller, more manageable list and also describes planned future enhancements to the reporting facility.

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