History of 106 Squadron

History of 106 Squadron

A short history of 106 Squadron. Covers formation in world war one. Reformed in 1938 with Hinds and Battles. Equipped with Hampden at beginning of the war. Initially a advanced training unit. Became operational in September 1940. Describes early bombing operations and mentions commanding officers. Re-equipped with Manchester in March 1942 and the Lancaster in May. Continues with descriptions of operations through 1942 and 1943. Gibson handed over as commanding officer in March 1943. Mentions new pathfinder techniques being developed. Continues with description of operations 1943 move to Metheringham, operation in 1944, invasion, covers commanding officers throughout, operating as pathfinders. Concludes with description of events and operations in 1945. Gives data on operations, lists squadron commanders, aircraft, and locations.

Nine page typewritten document

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SHORT HISTORY
--of—
106 SQUADRON

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[underlined] SHORT HISTORY OF NO. 106 SQUADRON [/underlined]

No. 106 Squadron was formed at Andover in September 1917 and equipped with R.E.8 aircraft, its duties were those of an Army Co-operation Unit. After eight months at Andover, it was moved to Fermoy in Northern Ireland, where it was when the Armistice was signed, and where it remained until its disbandment in October, 1919 – it had by then been re-equipped with Bristol Fighters. Early records of the Squadron are meagre but there is nothing to suggest that the Squadron was ever in the front line and it does not appear to have any claim to distinction.

In June, 1938, the Squadron was reformed at Abingdon and was under the Command of S/Ldr. W.C. Sheen. The original aircraft were Hinds, but Fairey Battles were later introduced and in September, 1938 the Squadron moved to Thornaby where it stayed until after the outbreak of war. By this time the Fairey Battles had been had been superseded by the Handley Page ‘Hampden’ and thus equipped the Squadron, after a short stay at Cottesmore, was moved to Finning in October, 1939.

No. 106 Squadron was not immediately employed as a front line Squadron – it was not employed as such for over a year – but became an advanced training Unit and crew pool for Operational Squadrons of No. 5 Group. Its duties consisted of normal flying training, intensive night flying and an occasional North Sea sweep. Later, its curriculum was extended to include conversion of second pilots to Captains, moving target (Motor Boat) bombing and sundry other training commitments of a miscellaneous character. Owing to the constantly changing personnel – between 90 and 100 aircrew passed through the Squadron every week, making it little more than a clearing house – it was impossible to adopt any consistent policy as the large flow of aircrew for Operational Squadrons belonged to us on paper only.

It was under these circumstances and against an historical background very far from inspiring, that No. 106 Squadron, then under the command of S/Ldr. R.D. Stubbs, DFC., was converted into a semi-operational unit and carried out its first sorties on 9th Sept. 1940. Three aircraft were sent ‘Gardening’ and the event was such as to arouse quite extrardinary [sic] enthusiasm and practically the whole camp – from Station Commander downwards, were present at the take-off. The primary object of this new policy was to provide No. 5 Group Squadrons with fully trained crews who had operational experience. Later, the posting of these experienced crews ceased and the Squadron was gradually built up to full strength with a view to itself being made fully operational. Throughout the winter of 1940-41 under the Command of first W/Cdr. W.J.H. Lindley and then W/Cdr. J.P. Polglaise, mining sorties were carried out regularly – with varying degrees of success and without incidents of special interest.

On 25th, Feb. 1941, the Squadron moved to Coningsby and now almost at full strength, took its place alongside the other 5 Group Squadrons – admittedly the Cinderella in such gallant company and rather jealous of their ‘kudos’ but determined to make its way to the front. It was not long before this had been achieved.

The first bombing raid was made on the 1st. March, 1941 – the target was Cologne. The first event of outstanding importance was on the night of 4 – 5th. April, 1941, when three aircraft made a fifty feet attack on the notorious German Warships which had recently arrived in Brest. In the face of fierce opposition, at least one 1900 lb. bomb scored a near miss on the Gneisenau. The Squadron won its first awards on this attack – Pilot Officer R. Waring winning the D.F.C. and Sergeant R. Purnell with the D.F.M. The price paid for such success as was achieved at the loss of the Squadron Commander, W/Cdr. J.P. Polglaise, who was one of the low-level attackers.

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Early in May, 1941, the Squadron was taken over by W/Cdr. R.S. Allen, DFC. and a little later was converted into a three flight Squadron. This enabled raids to be carried out with increased strength and throughout the summer we achieved, comparatively, a high standard of success with light losses. The targets on those summer nights were not very varied – they were chiefly in the Ruhr – but attacks were very frequent and on several occasions 20 aircraft were put into the air. Some excellent take-off times were achieved, too, the best being the despatch of fifteen aircraft in 9 minutes.

On 24th. July, 1941, after several weeks of intensive training, formation of six aircraft led a daylight raid on the warships at Brest. The crews claimed to have straddled the Gneisenau despite fierce and accurate opposition – the formation remained unbroken and, although every aircraft was damaged, all returned safely. For this magnificent work, W/Cdr. Allen was awarded the D.S.O. and awards were made to three other members of the crews. Later, the same formation (even the escorting fighter Squadrons admitted that it was good) made a daylight attack on Gosnay in occupied France.

With the coming of the longer nights the targets could be varied and the enemy naval ports received frequent attention, as well as Berlin. The art of sea-mining was not neglected and amongst other operations of that type the most note worthy was the mining of Oslo by 14 aircraft, which were temporarily based at Wick. Several successful ‘sneaker’ raids were made, – these were great favourites amongst the more adventurous spirits – and other attacks which readily come to mind are those on the Huls Rubber Factory in December, 1941, and the smashing of the Renault Factory at Billencourt in March, 1942.

In March 1942, the time came for the Hampden, rapidly becoming obsolete, to be replaced with the latest type of Bomber and the Squadron was re-armed with the A.V. Roe ‘Manchester’ as a transition stage to the final re-equipment with the four engine Lancaster. With the change over from Hampdens, accomplished very creditably in ten days without a single accident, there came a change in Command, the new Squadron Commander being W/Cdr. G.P. Gibson, DFC., who had already completed tour of operations on bombers and one on night fighters.

The Manchesters were operated continuously throughout March, April and May, and despite the aircraft’s many shortcomings, no small measure of success was achieved. Lubeck and Warnemunde were amongst the targets attacked and aircraft were despatched on all four nights of the ‘blitz’ on Rostock. In addition to bombing, the Squadron’s mining activity was considerable – over 200 mines were laid which is a total greater by far than that laid by the Hampdens in 18 months.

The Squadron was in the process of converting to Lancasters at the time of the first ‘thousand raid’ and, in fact, the first sorties with these aircraft were made against Cologne on 30th. May, 1942. 11 of the 16 aircraft despatched on that occasion were Lancasters – none were lost – which was no mean feat considering that the pilots had only an hours experience of them. A few weeks later 17 Lancasters and 2 Manchesters dropped 54 tons of bombs on Bremen, establishing a new record for one nights work.

The size, scope and success of our bombing grew rapidly. Most readily there comes to mind the daylight attack on Danzig in July, 1942, which was followed by several mining sorties in that area and a bombing attack (using the 550 lb. C.S. bomb) on the Graf Zeppelin in Gdynia. On 31st. July, 1942 we set up a new record – 21 of our aircraft dropped 62 tons of bombs on Dusseldorf – the greatest weight ever dropped by a single Squadron. On this raid, too, we carried the first 8,000 lb. bomb.

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During the fine nights of August and September, 1942, the intensity of our bombing continued unabated. We achieved still more excellent results, both in bombing and mining – specially in the latter when many mines were accurately laid in the Baltic, often under appalling weather conditions. Sometimes we were the only Squadron to operate on these missions and our reward was the frequently expressed appreciation of the Admiralty.

Photography was coming into its own just now and in the number and quality of our pictures we were not lagging – holding a high place in Bomber Command and on two consecutive nights in September we took more photographs than any other Bomber Command Squadron.

At the end of September 1942, we severed, temporarily at least, our connection with Coningsby and were transferred to Syerston. We arrived there with a good reputation and we were not long in living up to it. October, 1942, was a month of spectacular success for No. 5 Group and 106 Squadron was well to the fore. On 17th. October, 1942, ten aircraft took part in a daylight raid on Le Creusot and on 22nd. October, 1942, 12 aircraft bombed Genoa, which was our first incursion of Italian territory. Two days later, we went to Italy again, this time in daylight when 11 aircraft bombed Milan. Not a single aircraft was lost on these three raids.

November, and December, 1942, were notable for the frequency of our attacks on Italian Targets – attacks which were usually highly successful and which produced an abundance of superb photographs. Germany was not forgotten, however, and in mid-January, 1943, two heavy raids on successive nights were made on Berlin. Mr. Richard Dimbleby the B.B.C. War Correspondent, flew on one of these and his story was subsequently broadcast to the World.

In January 1943, a new Pathfinder technique (Wanganui and Parrametta) was introduced and the Squadron assisted in these experiments – usually five aircraft were supplied for attacks on Essen or Duisburg. The entire attacking force normally numbered no more than about 25 aircraft, and owing to the limited numbers the raids were exceedingly dangerous and unpleasant. The losses incurred were not light but these experiments led to the sudden smashing assault on 5th. March, 1943, on Essen – an attack which may well be regarded as a forerunner of the scores of concentrated assaults which were to follow on the Ruhr and elsewhere.

Unusually fine weather enabled operations to be carried out with great frequency and the Squadron roamed far and wide over France, Germany and Italy. Many successes came our way. After having been second in January, we headed the No. 5 Group ladder in February and were second again in March. On a raid against Milan we obtained six aiming point photographs – a new Bomber Command Record which earned a congratulatory message from the A.O.C.

In March, 1943, came a change of Command. W/Cdr. G.P. Gibson D.S.O. D.F.C., (he had won the DSO. And Bar for his brilliant work on the Squadron) was posted to form a new Squadron which subsequently achieved fame by its ‘Dam Busting’ raid. Be it noted that apart from W/Cdr. Gibson 25% of the pilots who reached the target were ex-106 Squadron.

The new Commanding Officer was W/Cdr. J.H. Searby DFC, who had joined the Squadron as ‘B’ Flight Commander in October, 1942. Under his Command the Squadron continued to hold its high place amongst Bomber Command’s best Squadrons Nuremburg, Munich and Berlin, in March, Stettin, Spezia and the Skoda works in April were, perhaps, the most notable efforts.

At the beginning of May, 1943, W/Cdr. Searby left us to take Command of a Pathfinder Squadron – he was shortly afterwards promoted Group Captain and was later to win the D.S.O. His successor was W/Cdr. R.E. Baxter.

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Encouraged by the overwhelming success of the bombing of Essen, the avowed intention of Bomber Command was the destruction of the industrial Ruhr, and in May, the battle was joined in earnest. For three months the Ruhr was bombed ceaselessly and remorsely – enormous areas were devastated in each raid. Sometimes whole towns such as Wuppertal and Remscherd, were virtually eliminated in a single night. The Squadron was well to the fore in this series of grim, determined attacks which were met with fierce and desperate opposition. Many fine crews were lost but we may well be proud of our part in a battle which finally resulted in complete victory.

At the end of July, 1943, Bomber Command started – and won – the Battle of Hamburg. In four attacks, startling in their ferocity and concentration – a vast tonnage of bombs was unloaded on a vital target. In less than a week Hamburg had been reduced to a smouldering ruin. In these attacks we sent 58 aircraft and dropped 240 tons of bombs.

As a welcome variation of the almost nightly run to the Ruhr, a favoured few made a trip to North Africa by way of the R.D.F. factories at Friedrichshaven the first of the shuttle service raids. Later still, three crews made low-level attacks on an Italian power station.

Raids on a miscellany of targets followed, outstanding amongst them being the attack on the R.D.F. and experimental at Peenamunde. The Squadron did extremely well on this raid – nine aircraft made the attack, two landing point photographs were taken, a fighter was shot down and not an aircraft was lost.

September and October saw heavy bombing of Nuremburg, Munich Kassel and Leipzig. Hanover had several attacks as did Berlin – a preliminary round maybe? During this late summer and early Autumn period, the Squadron operated steadily and consistently. It had one bad spell and owing to repeated losses it was reduced to only seven aircraft but there were several fine performances, both by the Squadron as a whole and by individual crews.

In November, 1943, after a years happy and successful residence at Syerston the Squadron moved to Metheringham, then a satellite of RAF. Coningsby and later embraced by the newly formed No. 54 Base. The camp was a new one – indeed, it was very far from complete. Apart from personal difficulties the obstacles to efficient operating were very real, not the least of which were the widely dispersed sites. Lack of transport, unpleasantly cold and wet weather, and a very large number of influenza victims. Despite these handicaps the Squadron rose to the occasion magnificently – on four of our first six raids we despatched more aircraft and dropped more tons of bombs than any other Squadron in No. 5. Group.

Coincidental of our arrival at Metheringham, Bomber Command opened its night offensive against Berlin. It was an assault which resolved itself into a grim unrelenting battle against cunning and bitter defences and, not infrequently appalling weather. The Squadron was in the thick of the fray from the first raid on 17/18th. November, 1943 and during the next three months took part in 15 attacks on the Reich Capital. Including an attack in late March, 1944, we despatched 233 aircraft and dropped over 900 tons of bombs – it may be claimed with confidence that our contribution to the Battle of Berlin was not exceeded by any other Squadron in Bomber Command.

There were, of course, other targets bombed during the 1943/1944 Winter. Leipzig, Magdeburg and Stettin are examples but even these targets were interwoven with campaign against Berlin, employed as they were to confuse the enemy defences. With the virtual elimination of Berlin, achieved in February, other targets were chosen – Schweinfurt, Augsburg and Stuttgart to name only three.

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In March 1944, a most important development in Pathfinder technique was evolved and the Squadron assisted in the experiments which finally led to the ‘Spot-fire’ target marking. The Commanding Officer of the famous No. 617 sqdn was employing a technique of marking an objective from the very low-level and then instructing the bombing force to bomb the target in relation to its position to the spot fire. The objective chosen for the experiments were small but important factories in France – Claremount, Ferrand Rubber Factories, the explosives factory at Angouleme, the munitions factories at Bergerac. Six experienced Squadron crews would precede the 617 Sqdn. aircraft, locate the target and illuminate it with flares, in the light of which W/Cdr. Cheshire, in a Mosquito would drop the markers. There invariably followed a highly accurate bombardment (with 12,00 lb bombs), our own aircraft adding to the general destruction with loads of incendiaries. Very soon this technique was universally employed and without doubt was largely responsible for the countless successful attacks on targets, large and small, in the following months.

At this time the Squadron was once more on the crest of a wave of success. For the first quarter of 1944, we were leading every other 5 Group Squadron by a handsome margin. Our accident rate was the lowest, our operational losses were proportionately less than those of any other Squadron. Our training hours were the highest by far, and for three consecutive months we won the 5 Group Bombing competition.

In March, 1944, W/Cdr. R.E. Baxter, recently awarded the D.F.C., was posted and W/Cdr. E.K. Piercey assumed command.

With the advent of Spring, the sole topic of war conversation was ‘Invasion’. Although it did not take place until June, the Squadron was busily employed in paving the way with attacks on lines of communications, military camps and munition factories in France – although German cities were not entirely neglected, two outstanding attacks in those on Munich and Schweinfurt in April.

Considerable success was achieved and we assisted in the destruction of many vitally important targets. Anti-aircraft opposition was generally less intense than that experience in Germany and the majority of targets were accordingly bombed from a comparatively low level – between 4,000 and 10,000ft. Usually careful routeing enabled us to avoid the fighter packs – but not always. On two or three occasions the Squadron suffered heavy and bitter losses – five aircraft were lost on 26th. April, 1944, a few nights later another four failed to return. A total of 12 was lost in less than a fortnight.

Sea mining was not neglected and the Squadron effected a remarkable performance on 9/10th. April, 1944, when three aircraft, in face of intense flack, laid mines from 150 ft. in the Konigberger See-Kanel. It may be remarked that my Lords of the Admiralty, as on previous occasions, were so delighted by the success of the operation and so impressed by the gallantry of the crews, that they were constrained to send their congratulations in terms so effusive as to bear no relation to their traditional unemotional silence.

Towards the end of May our targets included Coastal Gun Batteries in France – targets obviously so important and urgent that the weather incredibly adverse was repeatedly defied. On the last night of May, for example, 12 aircraft took off to bomb the Maisy Gun Battery in a thunderstorm of unusual violence.

Returning at dawn on 6th June, 1944, having bombed the Coastal Gun Battery at St. Pierre Du Mont our crews saw some of the vast armada of ships heading for the Normandy Coast. “D.Day” had arrived and it heralded a period of intensive work by the Squadron – that same night 16 aircraft were making a low level attack on the bridges at Caen. Broadly, the Squadron was employed during the ensuing weeks on two missions – firstly, tactically and strategic bombing in accordance with military requirements, secondly in the assaults upon the Flying Bomb Dumps.

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By day and night, the Squadron operated consistently. It is impossible to record the many targets which we bombed with repeated success – they were targets of priority which mostly had a bearing of military operations. At first, they were confined to Railway Yards – Orleans, Poitiers, Nantes, Nevers and Vitry le Francois, are a few which come readily to mind. Occasionally we were called into assist the Ground Forces, notable occasions being the obliteration of Aunay-sur-Odon and whatever enemy Panzer divisions which were sheltering there, and the tremendous bombing on Caen on 18th. July. Special mention must be made of the daylight bombing of St. Syr Air Park when all 20 crews taking part obtained aiming point pictures.

Soon after the invasion, the enemy launched against London and the Southern Counties, his much heralded ‘Secret Weapon’ campaign – his missile becoming known, officially as the Flying Bomb. A.D.G.B. and the A.A. defences shot down enormous numbers whilst Bomber Command sought out the launching sites, and deluged them with incredible quantity of bombs. No. 106 Squadron was seen in action against these sites and dumps and took part in four night and nine daylight attacks upon them. Sometimes, especially at night, large fighter forces were deployed to protect the objectives and against the St. Leu De’Esseraunt dump, the Squadron lost two aircraft on 4th. July and two nights later lost another five. In all other cases, however, the attacks were completed without loss.

August 1944 was a month of high endeavour and was a splendid climax to our great efforts of the past few months. In the first half of the month we operated on no fewer than eight days and five nights, our targets ranging from Flying Bomb Dumps to German industrial centres, from enemy troop concentrations to submarine pens, from airfields to marshalling yards. The month ended with notable mining sorties and two devastating attacks on Konigsburg. The last of which saw the loss of the Station Commander, G/Capt. W.N. McKechnie, G.C. who was taking a new crew on their first operational flight. During this month of consistent achievement, the Squadron despatched 291 aircraft and dropped 1199 tons of bombs – no other Squadron in 5 Group has despatched so many aircraft or dropped such a tonnage of bombs in any single month of the War.

On this triumphant note, the Squadron entered its fifth year of Operational flying.

At the end of August, 1944, W/Cdr. M.M.J. Stevens assumed Command of the Squadron, he was the Squadron’s tenth wartime Commanding Officer.

The return of the longer nights saw the Squadron turning away from the Military targets to the Strategical targets of pre-invasion days. The month saw more incendiary raids on major German cities such as Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Muchen Gladbach to name a few.

On 13th September, 1944, the Squadron received a great compliment, it was allotted the task of training all the new crews of No. 5 Group’s Pathfinder Squadrons. This meant that only a nucleus of six permanent crews were kept, the rest, after a period of intensive training and operating were passed on to 83 and 97 Squadrons, and it was expected that this would cause a drop in the Squadron’s operational effort.

The month of October, 1944 saw the Squadron back in its old stride, despite its commitments as a nursery for P.F.F. Its targets were again getting deep into Germany, and again all strategical targets. Only two military targets were attacked, one was the breaching of the Sea Wall at Westkappelle on the island of Walcheren.

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Mining was not neglected this month, the Squadron dropping a total of 100 mines in three nights.

November, 1944, saw the attacks against the Dortmund Ems Canal and Millteland Canal increasing. The Squadron taking part in raids on them at various points, on the first of these one aircraft, JB.663 completed its 100th sortie.

On November, 23. 1944, the Squadron created a New Record; on the raid against Munich it had 23 aircraft airborne, all of which successfully completed their missions and returned to Base, the aircraft being landed on F.I.D.O. due to bad visibility.

In the next month, December, 1944, the Squadron was busy attacking the German Navy, both with mines and bombs. On December, 13th 1944, 106 Squadron with the rest of 54 Base (617, 83 and 97) took part in a strike against the Emden at Horten. On December, 16th. 1944, 15 aircraft of the Squadron were the only aircraft in command of operations, they dropped 70 mines in the entrances to the Ports of Danzig and Gydnia.

A heavy but successful year ended with the bombing of enemy troop concentrations at Houffalaize when the German Ardennesoffensive was at its height

The Squadron could look back with pride over its achievements of 1944. In addition to its fine operational record and its new job of P.F.F. training, it had also held the 5 Group Trophy for the least number of avoidable accidents for nine months out of the year. The first day of 1945 saw two attacks on the German inland water system the Dortmund Ems Canal and the Mittland Canal, one by day and one by night , both of which were highly successful. The canals being completely breached at both places. The end of the month saw the start of the final battle for German oil, with two attacks, one to Leuna nr Leipzig and the other to Brux in Czechoslovakia.

Again in Feb. 1945, the Dortmund Ems Canal was heavily attacked and the Germans having been given just enough time to get the damage cleared away and the breeches mended. The month included more mining, and attacks against oil targets, and the Squadron also participated in the historic attack on Dresden.

On Feb. 8th. 1945, it was allotted another new role, being given the task of making a ‘spoof’ attack at New Brandenburg, while the rest of five Group was making an attack at Politz, about 70 miles away. The Squadron provided its own controller, marker leader, marking force, flare force and main force. The ‘spoof’ was a great success – helping to divert the enemy night fighters from the main attack – and was considered a good nights outing by everyone taking part.

The immediate award of the D.F.C. was announced this month to Sqdn. Commander, W/Cdr. M.M.J. Stevens.

March 1945, produced another new innovation for Bomber Command, the thousand bomber daylight attacks on Essen and Dortmund. In both of these 106 Squadron played its part. These were essential military attacks, and greatly assisted the coming allied offensive, for the crossing of the Rhine.

The rest of the month was taken up with increasingly heavy attacks against the German Oil supplies – mostly in the Leipzig area.

On 15th. March 1945, W/Cdr. L.G. Levis assumed Command of the Squadron W/Cd. M.M. Stevens, D.F.C. being posted to the Command of R.A.F. Station, Coningsby.

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The month of April, 1945, commenced with a daylight attack on enemy concentrations at Nordhausen. This was quickly followed by more attacks on enemy oil installations, on one of which the Squadron Commander W/Cdr. Levis had to do a forced landing at Wing, after being well and truly ‘shot up’

The Squadron’s last sortie of the War was against small oil refinery at Tonsburg near Oslo, on 25th April, 1945.

With the coming of May, 1945, the Squadron was standing by to help with operation ‘Exodus’ – and on May, 9th. 1945, when peace was at last a reality, 15 aircraft of the Squadron were at Rheine airfield, near the Dortmund Ems Canal, helping to evacuate released P.O.W.

No. of Nights operated . . 496. Number of days operated . . . . . . 46
Total . . . . 542.
Total number of sorties . . 5834 Total bombs & mines dropped . . . 17,781 tons
Losses. . . 187 Aircraft.
Enemy aircraft destroyed. 20. Probably destroyed . . . . . 3
Damaged . . . . . 29
Decorations awarded to members of the Squadron . . V.C. 1,
DSO. 4,
Bar to D.S.O 1,
DFC. 144,
Bar to DFC. 9,
AFC. 1,
DFM. 95,
Bar to DFM. 5.
Conspicuous Gall M.1.
B.E.M. (Mil. Div.) 1.
Total . . . . . . . . . . . 262.

No attempt has been made in this short history to analyze the work the Squadron has been called upon to perform or to place such work in the vast frame work of Bomber Command’s activities. The foregoing pages strive merely to chronicle, simply, briefly and objectively the operational activities of No. 106. Squadron from its inception to May 9th. 1945 – the end of hostilities in Europe.

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[underlined] SQUADRON COMMANDERS [/underlined]

February, 1918 – Major E.A.B. Rice
November, 1918 – Captain R. Duncan
September, 1938 – S/Ldr. W.C. Sheen
October, 1939 – W/Cdr G.R. Montgomerie
June, 1940 – S/Ldr. R.D. Stubbs, DFC
November, 1940 – W/Cdr. W.J.H. Lindlay
April, 1941 – W/Cdr. J.P. Polglaise
May, 1941 – W/Cdr. R.S. Allen, DFC
March, 1942 – G.P. Gibson, VC. DSO. DFC.
March, 1943 – W/Cdr. J.H. Searby, DFC
May, 1943 – W/Cdr. R.E. Baxter, DFC
March, 1944 – W/Cdr. E.K. Pearcy, DFC
August, 1944 – W/Cdr. M.M.J. Stevens, DFC
April, 1945 – W/Cdr. L.G. Levis.

[underlined] AIRCRAFT FLOWN BY NO. 106 SQUADRON [/underlined]

May, 1918 to January 1919 – R.E.8.
Jan. 1919 to Oct. 1919 – Bristol Fighters
June 1938 to July 1938 – Fairey Hind.
July 1938 to May 1939 – Fairey Battle.
May 1939 to May 1942 – Hampden
May 1942 to July 1942 – Manchester
July 1942 – Lancaster.

[underlined] LOCATIONS [/underlined]

30.9.17 – Andover
21.5.18 – Ayr
30.5.18 – Fermoy
1.6.38 – Abingdon
1.9.38 – Thornaby
26.9.38 – Grantham
14.10.38 – Thornaby
2.9.39 – Cottesmore
6.10.39 – Finningley
8.2.41 – Coningsby
10.9.42 – Syerston
12.11.43 – Metheringham.

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