RAF-90 Squadron Bomber Command

90 Squadron

Although this squadron was already formed in the First World War in 1917, it was reformed in 1942 into a night Bomber Squadron, part of No. 1. 3 Bomber Group and used the Lancasters after the Stirlings. The last flight was to Bremen on April 22, 1945. The squadron had 4,613 operational flights for Bomber Command and lost 86 aircraft during the war.

The bombing of the Synthetic Oil Refineries in Gelsenkirchen took place a lot, both by the RAF at night and by the US Air Force during the day.

In 1944 there were at least 18 bombing flights with a total of 3100 aircraft.

The losses in the 2nd world war were high. The RAF Bomber Command alone lost 55,573 men in the war and 11,000 RAF pilots are buried in our country alone, alongside many hundreds of the US Air Force.

Approximately 7,000 Allied and German aircraft crashed in the Netherlands and the associated coastal waters, of which 2,500 were RAF machines.

At the RAF, an aircraft crew was given half a year's rest after 30 operational flights. Well, rest: They became instructors or flew somewhere else, but not against the enemy. After half a year, the 2º "operational tour" of another 30 flights followed. Few survived 2 or even 3 "operational tours" a larger number made it to a few flights or died on their first flight.

The crews of the US Air Force - if they survived - went back to the United States after 25 missions.

Tuddenham, Suffolk

This Royal Air Force airport - 5 kilometers southeast of Mildenhall, Suffolk - was taken into use by the 90º Squadron on 13 October 1943 with the Short Stirling III aircraft, mainly engaged in laying mines. In 1944 the Lancasters arrived and the bombing flights of the 90º Squadron started to Germany. 1,845 men and 250 women were stationed at the base.

From the opening to the end of the war, Tuddenham's losses were 17 Stirlings and 36 Lancasters.

101 airfields were used on the English East Coast during the Second World War, from which 389,000 bombing flights were carried out by the RAF. There were dozens of other airports that were used for training and maintenance.

Source: From the archives of J. Zengerink

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