142542 Flight Lieutenant Harry Richardson DFC
Title
142542 Flight Lieutenant Harry Richardson DFC
A Flight Through Time
Description
Harry Richardson grew up in Bolton and North Wembley before beginning pilot training as war broke out. After qualifying, he flew his first tour of operations with 149 Squadron from RAF Mildenhall. He then became an instructor at 27 OTU, flying Ansons, and took part in both Thousand Bomber attacks on Köln and Essen. Commissioned in 1943, he later served with 159 Squadron in India, flying Liberators on mine‑laying, railway and harbour attacks across Burma, Thailand and the Andaman region.
After the war he moved to Prestwick and became an Air Traffic Controller, contributing to the development of Atlantic air traffic procedures.
Served at RAF Perth, RAF Montrose, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Lichfield, RAF Digri.
Aircraft flown were Tiger Moth, Wellington, Anson, B-24 Liberator.
With 149 Squadron Harry flew 32 night bombing operations. His targets were Brest, Mannheim, Hannover, Kiel, Düsseldorf, Bremen, Essen, Münster, Cologne, Hamburg, Duisburg, Karlsruhe, Boulogne, Cherbourg, Emden, Stettin and Nurnberg.
On the 8 May 1941 his aircraft had to carry out a forced landing.
Whilst instructing at 27 Operational Training Unit he flew on two 1000 bomber 2 night operations to Cologne and Essen.
When posted to India with 159 Squadron, he flew 1 day shipping sweep, 5 day and 6 night minelaying and 8 night bombing operations. The targets were Moulmein, Mergui, the Tavoy River, Port Blair, Myitnge - Mandalay, Bangkok-Chiang Mai Railway, the Pak Chan River, the Ye River, Penang, Bangkok, Ye, Martaban and the Nakhon-Chaisri Bridge.
After the war he moved to Prestwick and became an Air Traffic Controller, contributing to the development of Atlantic air traffic procedures.
Served at RAF Perth, RAF Montrose, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Lichfield, RAF Digri.
Aircraft flown were Tiger Moth, Wellington, Anson, B-24 Liberator.
With 149 Squadron Harry flew 32 night bombing operations. His targets were Brest, Mannheim, Hannover, Kiel, Düsseldorf, Bremen, Essen, Münster, Cologne, Hamburg, Duisburg, Karlsruhe, Boulogne, Cherbourg, Emden, Stettin and Nurnberg.
On the 8 May 1941 his aircraft had to carry out a forced landing.
Whilst instructing at 27 Operational Training Unit he flew on two 1000 bomber 2 night operations to Cologne and Essen.
When posted to India with 159 Squadron, he flew 1 day shipping sweep, 5 day and 6 night minelaying and 8 night bombing operations. The targets were Moulmein, Mergui, the Tavoy River, Port Blair, Myitnge - Mandalay, Bangkok-Chiang Mai Railway, the Pak Chan River, the Ye River, Penang, Bangkok, Ye, Martaban and the Nakhon-Chaisri Bridge.
This Tribute was presented to Harry Richardson DFC on the occasion of his 108th Birthday by the Trustees, Staff and Volunteers of the International Bomber Command Centre, Lincoln, in recognition of his outstanding service to Bomber Command and the wider Royal Air Force during World War II, and to commercial aviation.
Creator
Date
2026-02-08
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
52 printed sheets
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
BRichardson20260210
Collection
Citation
Dave Gilbert, “142542 Flight Lieutenant Harry Richardson DFC,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed May 14, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/59358.