616 SQUADRON - Fighter, Spitfire Mk I
History | Operations and losses | Sources | Links | Books | Questions and/or remarks
No 616 Squadron was formed on 1 November 1938 at Doncaster and was designated a fighter unit on 15 November. It gave up its Hinds for Gauntlets in January 1939 and from May 1939 had four Battles for training duties in preparation for the arrival of Spitfires. It was not until October that the latter arrived, conversion being completed in November.
As the end of May 1940, the squadron began operating over Dunkirk and during the first part of the Battle of Britain it was based in Yorkshire, moving south in mid-August.
One of its pilots in the summer of 1940 was the American Pilot Officer Phil Leckrone - see The American Connection
Stations
Leconfield 6 June 1940
Kenley 19 August 1940
Coltishall 3 September 1940
Kirton-in-Lindsey 9 September 1940
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Operations and losses 10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940
Not all operations listed; those with fatal losses are.
28/05/1940: Dunkirk?
01/06/1940: ?, Channel? 1 Plane lost
04/06/1940: ?, UK. 1 Plane lost, 1 KIA or DOW
27/06/1940: ?
Flight Lieutenant Anthony N. Wilson, RAF (AAF) 90300, 616 Sqdn., age 33, 21/02/1940, missing
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28/05/1940: Dunkirk?
No 616 Sqdn. claimed two Me109's destroyed.
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01/06/1940: ?, Channel?
No 616 Sqdn. claimed one Me109 and a Ju88 destroyed.
Type: Spitfire Mk I
Serial number: ?, QJ-?
Operation: ?, Manche Sector
Lost: 01/06/1940
F/O J.S. Bell.
Bailed out over sea, after being damaged by Me109. The pilot was machinegunned in sea, but survived.
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04/06/1940: ?, UK
Type: Spitfire Mk I
Serial number: N3130, QJ-?
Operation: ?
Lost: 04/06/1940
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Eric W.S. Scott, RAF 40852, 616 Sqdn., age 20, 04/06/1940, Southend-on-Sea (Sutton Road) Cemetery, UK
Killed in accident, Rochford Sector.
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27/06/1940: ?
No 616 Sqdn. claimed one He111 destroyed (not confirmed).
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Sources
Air of Authority - 616 Squadron
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database
Bail-outs for 1940
Ciel de Gloire - Squadron 616 (in French)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
RAF Battle of Britain - 616 Squadron
RAF - Campaign Diary - The Battle of France (May-June 1940)
RAF Museum: British Military Aviation in 1940
RAF Order of Battle, France, 10th May 1940
Royal Air Force History Section
The Royal Air Force, 1939-1945
The Second World War - a day by day account
The War in France and Flanders, 1939-1940, by Major L.F. Ellis, 1954
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Books
Mike Cooper 'One of the many' (J&KH Publishing)
H Dundas 'Flying Start' (Penguin 1988)
K Delve & G Pitchfork 'South Yorkshire's Own: 616 Squadron RAF' (Doncaster Books 1990)
L Lucas 'Five Up' (Autobiography of Laddie Lucas) (Wingham 1991)
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Links
Air Aces
Airwar over Denmark
Allied World War II Casualties in the Netherlands
Armée de l'Air - Order of Battle,
10th May 1940
Australian Wargraves
Axis History Factbook
Battle-of-Britain.com
De Belgen in Engeland 1940-1945 (in Dutch)
Belgian Aviation History Association Archaeological Team
British Aircraft Directory
British Aviation Archaeological Council - Books and research links
HMS Cavalier
Ciel de Gloire (in French)
RAF Squadrons
CWGC Cemeteries Germany
CWGC Cemeteries Netherlands
Czechoslovak airmen in
the RAF 1940-1945
Danish WW2 Pilots
Dutch Pilots in RAF Squadrons
Eagles Squadrons (American pilots in the RAF)
Håkans aviation page (from Sweden, in English)
'High flight', poem by John Gillespie Magee
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, poem by W.B. Yeats
Jagdgeschwader 27 (in German)
Luchtoorlog ('Arial War', in Dutch, with many photos)
Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth
The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945
Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
The National Ex-Prisoners of War Association
Naval History.net
Nordic Aviation during WW2
Pilotfriend.com: aircraft of WW2
Polish Air Force 1940-1947 Operations Record Books
RAF Battle of Britain
RAF Upwood
De Slag om de Grebbeberg (Dutch)
Warbird Alley
War over Holland
World War II Aircraft wrecksites in Norway
www.bomber-command.de
Bills-Bunker.de
North East Diary 1939-1945
Wartime Leicester and
Leicestershire
The Aerodrome -
Aces and Aircraft of World War 1
WW1 Cemeteries
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This page is dedicated to the men of 616 Squadron.
© Bart FM Droog / Rottend Staal Online 2008. Permission granted for use of the data gathered here for non commercial purposes, if this source is mentioned with a link to http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/index.html
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