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No. 76 Squadron Royal Air Force
No.76 Squadron, RFC, was formed at Ripon, Yorkshire, in 1916 as a Home Defence unit. In June 1919, the squadron was disbanded at Tadcaster.
No. 76 was re-formed in April 1937 from 'B' Flight of No. 7 Squadron, at Finningley, Yorkshire, as a bomber unit equipped with Wellesleys. By the outbreak of the Second World War it had been re-equipped with Hampdens and Ansons and had assumed the role of a Group (No. 5) training unit.
Airfields No. 76 Squadron RAF flew from.
- RAF Finningley, Yorkshire. from 3rd to 23rd Sep 1939
- RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire from 23rd Sept 1939 to 18th April 1940 (became No16 OTU)
- RAF West Raynham. Reformed 30th April 1940 to 20th May 1940 (disbanded)
- RAF Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire. Reformed 12th Apr to 4th Jun 1941
- RAF Middleton St. George, Durham from 4th June 1941 to 17th Sep 1942
- Detachments to Lossiemouth in January 1942 and again in April; and to Tain in Mar/Apr for ops against the Tirpitz in the Trondheim area of Norway.
- Detachment on 16th July 1942 to Aqir, Palestine. Relocated in August to bases in Egypt (Shallufa & LG 224 and Fayid). On 7th September 1942 the detachment merged with other units to form No. 462 Squadron.
- RAF Linton-on-Ouse from 17th Sept 1942 to 16th Jun 1943
- RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor, Yorkshire from 16th Jun 1943 to August 1945
- RAF Broadwell from August 1945. In September it moved to India.
Annual Service of Remembrance 2023.
The Middleton St George Memorial Association Annual Service of Remembrance will take place at the Memorial Garden, Teesside International Airport at 10.45am on the 10th of June 2023 Please arrive in good time, if you would like to lay a wreath or other tribute please let a member of our committee know before the service begins.
Remembrance Service 2023.
The Middleton St George Memorial Association Remembrance Day Service will take place at the Memorial Garden, Teesside International Airport at 10.45am on the 11th of November 2023 Please arrive in good time, if you would like to lay a wreath or other tribute please let a member of our committee know before the service begins.
The memorial garden is the resting place of the ashes of many who served at Middleton St George. If family members of those who served would like to have ashes placed in the garden, please get in touch so arrangements can be made. We are currently compiling a memorial book, if you know of anyone whose ashes have been placed in the garden, please could you let us know as we would like to include as many names as possible.
The Memorial Garden is open to visitors, please park in the visitors car park. Access to the garden is via the pedestrian gate on the north side of the long stay car park, follow the striped path from the terminal building to the gate. Please be aware there is no access to the old St George Hotel building or car park, as it is currently in use as a business facility.
23rd September 1939 Relocated
4th Apr 1940 Orders
8th April 1940 Training Unit established
22nd Apr 1940 Reorganisation
30th April 1940 Reformed and disbanded
12th April 1941 Reformed
4th June 1941 Operational
15th Jun 1941 Aircraft Lost
23rd Jun 1941 Aircraft Lost
21st Jul 1941 Aircraft Lost
24th July 1941 Attack on the Scharnhorst
24th Jul 1941 Aircraft Lost
24th Jul 1941 Daylight Attack
5th August 1941 Aircraft Lost
12th Aug 1941 Aircraft Lost
12th Aug 1941 Aircraft Lost
29th Aug 1941 Aircraft Lost
30th Aug 1941 Halifax Lost
13th Sep 1941 Aircraft Lost
31st Oct 1941 Aircraft Lost
30th Nov 1941 Aircraft Lost
18th December 1941 Attack on the Scharnhorst
29th Dec 1941 Aircraft Lost
15th Jan 1942 Aircraft Lost
17th Jan 1942 Aircraft Lost
31st Jan 1942 First Attack on the Tirpitz
30th Mar 1942 Aircraft Lost
31st March 1942 Second Attack on the Tirpitz
31st March 1942 Lost at sea
10th April 1942 High Capacity bomb
27th April 1942 Third Attack on the Tirpitz
28th April 1942 Fourth Attack on the Tirpitz
16th July 1942 Detachment to the Middle East
1st August 1942 Into Egypt
7th September 1942 New Squadron formed
17th Sept 1942 On the move
25th May 1943 Aircraft Lost
16th June 1943 Relocation
24th Jul 1943 Aircraft Lost
26th Jul 1943 Crash Landing
17th August 1943 Peenemunde Raid
3rd Nov 1943 Halifax Lost
3rd Nov 1943 Aircraft Lost
4th Nov 1943 76 Squadron Halifax lost
21st Jan 1944 76 Squadron Halifax lost
30th Mar 1944 Aircraft Lost
25th April 1944 Shot down in Norfolk
5th Jun 1944 Aircraft Lost
5th Jun 1944 Air Tests
6th Jun 1944 Guns Silenced
6th Jun 1944 Operations
29th Jun 1944 76 Squadron Halifax lost
25th Apr 1945 76 Squadron Halifax lost
7th May 1945 To Transport Command
6th August 1945 To the East
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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Logbooks
Do you have a WW2 Flying Log Book in your possession?
If so it would be a huge help if you could add logbook entries to our new database. Thank you.
View Logbook entries
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The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.
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Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted
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Want to know more about No. 76 Squadron Royal Air Force? There are:2062 items tagged No. 76 Squadron Royal Air Force available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Flt.Sgt. Joseph Donald "Mac" MacGregor C Flight 76 Squadron My Dad Joseph Donald MacGregor was a Flight Sargent navigator with 76 Squadron on a Mark III Halifax, Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, in Yorkshire during 1944/45. All I know about his time there is what he wrote on the back of a photograph he had of his bomber, (Son of Satan) and his flight crew. He was sometimes called "Mac" or Don, never by his first name of Joseph. As far as I can make out, members of his crew were:
- F/Sgt Bill Williams, rear gunner, RCAF
- F/Sgt 'Cobber' Walker, wireless op, RNZAF
- F/Sgt Don MacGregor, navigator, RCAF
- Sgt Danny Carp, bomb aimer, RAF
- Sgt ?, flight engineer, RAF
- F/O Neat, Pilot, RAF
- Sgt Bill Brewer, mid gunner, RAF
If there is anyone out there who knew my dad or any of his crew, I would be happy to hear from you.
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LAC Ronald George Harveye 76 Squadron My father LAC Ronald George Harvey was at Holm-on-Spalding-Moor for part of the second world war with 76 Squadron. He joined in 10/4/1940. He was also at Leconfield and RAF Cosford. In March 1945 he was sent to the Middle East and discharged on 18/12/45. My father died in 1996 and I have his RAF records. If anyone is still alive who knew him or can give me any more information on him and his service I would be very grateful as I am researching my family tree.
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Malcom D. Forster 76 Squadron My Father, Malcom D. Forster flew with 76 Squadron, his aircraft was named Der Federmous. He flew out of the Holme on Spalding Moor base from March 1944
through to May 1945. He did a total of 37 sorties.
The the crew were: - Pilot - F/L G.E. Peterson
- Navigator - P/O D. Rasmussen
- B/A - P/O B.I. Lohnes
- W/OP - W/O Northwood
- Eng - Sgt. Jones
- R/G - P/O Foster
- M/UG - P/O M.D. Forster
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LAC Ronald George Harveye 76 Squadron My father LAC Ronald George Harvey was at Holm-on-Spalding-Moor for part of the second world war with 76 Squadron. He joined in 10/4/1940. He was also at Leconfield and RAF Cosford. In March 1945 he was sent to the Middle East and discharged on 18/12/45. My father died in 1996 and I have his RAF records. If anyone is still alive who knew him or can give me any more information on him and his service I would be very grateful as I am researching my family tree.
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F/Sgt. Geoffrey William "Gerry" Vines DFM. 76 Squadron Geoffrey Vines was a rear gunner in 76 squadron during the 2nd World War based at Holme on Spalding Moor.
He is currently living in Taunton Somerset at the age of 96
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Sgt. Herbert Cyril Cohen No. 76 Squadron (d.20th Dec 1943) Herbert Cohen was flying in a Halifax MkV on a bombing mission when he was killed.
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Sgt. Norris Mervyn Harrison No. 76 Squadron (d.25th Apr 1944)  On the 24th/25th April 1944, P/O Dibbins and the rest of his crew climbed aboard Halifax III LK789 MP-L of No. 76 Squadron for the last time. Having just completed a briefing, the target that night was Karlsruhe, situated in southwest Germany. This was the crew’s 18th operation.
At 22.09 hrs the bomber took off from RAF Holme-on-Spaulding Moor, Yorkshire. According to reports, bombing was scattered due to heavy cloud and a stronger than forecast wind, which pushed the Pathfinders off track. Flak was moderate and ineffective and, over the target area at least, no night fighters were encountered. However, on returning to friendly territory, the bombers were routed ‘up England’ and, due to the very real risk of collision, many flew with navigation lights on, having been briefed that no intruder activity was expected. This was not the case, as Halifax LK789 was engaged and shot down 20 km northeast of Cambridge by a Me410 flown by Leutnant Wolfgang Wenning of II./KG51. The bomber crashed in a field opposite Colony Farm near Welney, Norfolk, after the pilot tried to crash land. All of the crew, with the exception of the rear gunner, were killed. My uncle, Norris Harrison, known as Mervyn, was the mid-upper gunner on the aircraft and was just 19 years old when he lost his life.
Crew:
- P/O. D.R Dibbins, Pilot RAFVR, age 21, killed
- Sgt. G.J Head, Fl/Engineer RAFVR, age 20, killed
- Sgt. K.C Oswald, Navigator RAFVR, age 22, killed
- F/Sgt. J.R Bathe, Bomb Aimer RAFVR, age 30, killed
- Sgt. J.G Davenport, W/Op/AG RAFVR, age 21, killed
- Sgt. N.M Harrison, Air Gunner RAFVR, age 19, killed
- F/Sgt. J. Anderson, Air Gunner RAFVR age 20, injured (he was rushed to RAF Ely hospital with a fractured femur and head injuries)
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F/Sgt. Dennis Roy Dare 76 Squadron Denis Dare served with 76 Squadron.
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Sgt. Edward Luder 76 Squadron Eddie Luder crashed on the 3rd of October 1943 at Leistrup Germany. He was sent to Stalag Luft 3 as POW no 250734.
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P/O. Arthur Fenton Smith 76 Squadron After training with 1663 Heavy Conversion Unit, my father, Arthur Smith, was posted to RAF Holme on Spalding Moor. Here he flew with 76 Squadron, Royal Air Force.
He and his crew flew on 16 sortie's before they were shot down on the night of 5th/6th of September 1943. My father was the only one to survive. Dad died in 1984.
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Recomended Reading.Available at discounted prices.
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The History of RAF and RCAF Middleton St George and Teesside Airport
Into the Night Sky: RAF Middleton St George: A Bomber Airfield at War Paul Tweddle
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