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:
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.
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.
Aircraft Deployed | Servicemen Deployed | Aircraft Service Number | Returned or FTR |
Comments | Crew Details | RF214 | Returned | Mission abandoned |
F/Sgt V B Cassapi (F/Eng) P/O A G Elliott (P) F/Sgt N H Lund (Nav) F/Sgt R J Francis (A/B) Sgt D Scully (W/Op) Sgt A J Cassidy (MU/AG) Sgt R Craigs (R/AG) |
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Aircraft Deployed | Servicemen Deployed | Aircraft Service Number | Returned or FTR |
Comments | Crew Details | RF214 | Returned | Primary at 400 ft at 13.21 hrs. MANNA mission. |
F/Sgt V B Cassapi (F/Eng) F/Sgt W G Anderson (A/B) P/O A G Elliott (P) F/Sgt N H Lund (Nav) F/Sgt R J Francis (A/B) Sgt D Scully (W/Op) Sgt A J Cassidy (MU/AG) Sgt R Craigs (R/AG) |
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Aircraft Deployed | Servicemen Deployed | Aircraft Service Number | Returned or FTR |
Comments | Crew Details | RF214 | Returned | Primary at 500 ft at 17.39 1/2 hrs. MANNA mission. |
F/Sgt V B Cassapi (F/Eng) P/O A G Elliott (P) F/Sgt N H Lund (Nav) F/Sgt R J Francis (A/B) Sgt D Scully (W/Op) Sgt A J Cassidy (MU/AG) Sgt R Craigs (R/AG) |
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Operation Summary | ||||
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Target | Out | Back | Aborted (Y / N) |
Comments |
-/MANNA | 01 May 1945 | 01 May 1945 | N | 27 aircraft with crews took off at 14.00hrs with a further supply of food. |
Aircraft Deployed | Servicemen Deployed | Aircraft Service Number | Returned or FTR |
Comments | Crew Details | RF214 | Returned | Primary at 500 ft at 15.32 hrs. MANNA mission. |
F/Sgt V B Cassapi (F/Eng) P/O A G Elliott (P) F/Sgt N H Lund (Nav) F/Sgt R J Francis (A/B) Sgt D Scully (W/Op) Sgt A J Cassidy (MU/AG) Sgt R Craigs (R/AG) |
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Operation Summary | ||||
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Target | Out | Back | Aborted (Y / N) |
Comments |
-/MANNA | 02 May 1945 | 02 May 1945 | N | Once again 27 aircraft with crew took off at 12.30 hrs to deliver more groceries to the Dutch people. |
Aircraft Deployed | Servicemen Deployed | Aircraft Service Number | Returned or FTR |
Comments | Crew Details | RF214 | Returned | Primary at 500 ft at 14.10 hrs. MANNA mission. |
F/Sgt M J Ball (P) F/Sgt P Clark (F/Eng) Sgt F M Johnstone (Nav) Sgt A E Farmer (A/B) Sgt W H Bailey (W/Op) Sgt F Law (MU/AG) Sgt G W Butcher (R/AG) |
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Station Summary |
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OPERATIONS: 27 aircraft were detailed for another "MANNA" dropping operation on the same area of Western Holland as previously, dropping 60.453 tons of food and all returned safely. |
Aircraft Deployed | Servicemen Deployed | Aircraft Service Number | Returned or FTR |
Comments | Crew Details | RF214 | Returned | Primary at 500 ft at 13.23 hrs. MANNA mission. |
F/Sgt V B Cassapi (F/Eng) P/O A G Elliott (P) F/Sgt N H Lund (Nav) F/Sgt R J Francis (A/B) Sgt D Scully (W/Op) Sgt A J Cassidy (MU/AG) Sgt R Craigs (R/AG) |
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Operation Summary | ||||
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Target | Out | Back | Aborted (Y / N) |
Comments |
Rotterdam/MANNA | 05 May 1945 | 05 May 1945 | N | 26 aircraft delivered groceries to the Dutch. |
Aircraft Deployed | Servicemen Deployed | Aircraft Service Number | Returned or FTR |
Comments | Crew Details | RF214 | Returned | Primary at 500 ft at 08.17 hrs. MANNA Mission |
F/Sgt V B Cassapi (F/Eng) P/O A G Elliott (P) F/Sgt N H Lund (Nav) F/Sgt R J Francis (A/B) Sgt D Scully (W/Op) Sgt A J Cassidy (MU/AG) Sgt R Craigs (R/AG) |
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Aircraft Deployed | Servicemen Deployed | Aircraft Service Number | Returned or FTR |
Comments | Crew Details | RF214 | Returned | Primary at 400 ft at 14.55 hrs. MANNA Mission [Ed. ORB says RF412, which is not otherwise listed. Thus RF214 assumed.] |
F/Sgt D T Williams (P) Sgt V Rose (F/Eng) Sgt D H Shaw (Nav) Sgt A M McCreight (A/B) Sgt R O Smith (W/Op) F/Sgt A W Robinson (MU/AG) Sgt J E Lindsay (R/AG) |
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Aircraft Deployed | Servicemen Deployed | Aircraft Service Number | Returned or FTR |
Comments | Crew Details | RF214 | Returned | EXODUS |
F/Sgt V B Cassapi (F/Eng) P/O A G Elliott (P) F/Sgt N H Lund (Nav) F/Sgt R J Francis (A/B) Sgt D Scully (W/Op) Sgt A J Cassidy (MU/AG) Sgt R Craigs (R/AG) |
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Aircraft Deployed | Servicemen Deployed | Aircraft Service Number | Returned or FTR |
Comments | Crew Details | RF214 | Returned | EXODUS |
P/O R H Digby (P) Sgt J H Walker (F/Eng) F/O A E Lewis (Nav) Sgt A E McLeod (A/B) Sgt D Crabtree (W/Op) Sgt R D Hager (R/AG) |
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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 deployments | 10 |
MAX Aircraft deployed in single operation |
1 (Bremen, 22 Apr 1945) |
These details were last updated: 23 October 2024
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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