550 Squadron and RAF North Killingholme Association

Squadron Operations: Summary Information

Overview

Listed below is the information available for operations to this target flown by 550 Squadron.

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: Kiel (23 Jul 1944 - 23 Jul 1944)

Operation Summary
Target	Out	Back	Aborted (Y / N)	Comments
Kiel	23 Jul 1944	23 Jul 1944	N	Seventeen aircraft and crews offered, accepted and briefed for operations against the enemy's Naval Base at Kiel. All the aircraft took off in the usual Squadron style and the outward journey was uneventful with mainly cloudy conditions. More cloud was encountered in the target area, but being fairly thin the markers were seen through it. Concentration appeared to be satisfactory, healthy fires were buring and were seen when 120 miles away. Flak was reported as intense over the target and the West Danish Coast was also active, but no serious trouble was encountered, "C" (P/O Holdsworth) had a short encounter with a JU88, the firing starting simultaneously; no damage or casualties were sustained by our aircraft, while strikes were observed on the enemy - it is only claimed as probably damaged. All our aircraft returned safely to base.

Aircraft Deployed			Servicemen Deployed
Aircraft Service Number	Returned or FTR	Comments	Crew Details
W5005	Returned	Primary 20,000 ft at 01.22 hours. Fires and smoke concentrated.	P/O H S Vaughan (P) Sgt R W Metcalfe (F/Eng) P/O L C Davies (Nav) F/Sgt D Porter (A/B) Sgt T Elliott (W/Op) Sgt W J Watson (MU/AG) Sgt L D Purser (R/AG)

Operation/Target: Kiel (26 Aug 1944 - 27 Aug 1944)

Operation Summary
Target	Out	Back	Aborted (Y / N)	Comments
Kiel	26 Aug 1944	27 Aug 1944	N	Eighteen aircraft and crews were offered and accepted for operations and were briefed to attack KIEL. After a first class takeoff at 21.00hrs the crews enjoyed good weather en-route to the target, but on the return journey a severe electrical storm was encountered. All crews returned safely although F/S Hopman and crew in "N" ditched in the River Humber whilst preparing to land, but were none the worse for this ducking.

Aircraft Deployed			Servicemen Deployed
Aircraft Service Number	Returned or FTR	Comments	Crew Details
W5005	Returned	Crash landed in Humber (1ml NNW Killinghome Haven) on return from primary target. [Ed. Following this W5005 was, as recorded in the W5005 Movement Card, assigned as Cat. E1 (written off but suitable for component recovery) and Stuck off Charge on 27th August 1944.]	P/O R Hopman (P) F/Sgt J K Sharpe (Nav) F/Sgt G R Martin (A/B) F/Sgt F G Ferguson (W/Op) F/Sgt R E Sloan (MU/AG) F/Sgt R E McKenzie (R/AG) Sgt A W E Walters (F/Eng)

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	2
MAX Aircraft deployed in single operation	1 (Kiel, 23 Jul 1944)

These details were last updated: 22 November 2024

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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