Air Force Index

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No. 571 Squadron Royal Air Force    No 571 was formed 7th April 1944 at Downham Market. It was a light bomber unit of No 8 (Pathfinder) Group, flying Mosquitoes carrying 4,000 lb bombs. It carried out night raids with the Night Striking Force on German industrial targets, and disbanded 20 September 1945. Airfields No. 571 Squadron flew from: RAF Downham Market, Norfolk from 7th April 1944 ( formed. Mosquito XVI) RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire from 22nd April 1944 RAF Warboys, Huntingdonshire from 20th June 1945   17th May 1944 571 Squadron Mosquito lost 27th March 1945 Mid-air collision If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. 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 Those known to have served with No. 571 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War 1939-1945. Broom DSO, DFC. Ivor Gordon. Wing Co. Gant Maurice George. F/O. (d.27th Mar 1945) Grain DFC. Ronald Francis. Hudson AFC. Gordon David. F/O. (d.27th Mar 1945) The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List Records of No. 571 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 22nd April 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263973 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. 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There are:2001 items tagged No. 571 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. Ronald Francis Grain DFC. 108 Squadron, 571 Squadron My father Ronald Grain served as an RAF pilot from 1940-45 and later as a volunteer reservist and took part in 2 tours, with 108 squadron in Egypt during 1941 and over Germany during 1944/45. He also worked as a flying instructor at Kinloss for 2.5 years in between with 571 Squadron. He was awarded the DFC at the end of the second tour. Kevin Grain Add to this record. F/O. Gordon David Hudson AFC. 571 Squadron (d.27th Mar 1945) Flying Officer (Pilot) George Hudson was the Son of William and Elizabeth Annie Hudson, of New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. He was aged 26 when he died and is buried in the Leek (Zevenhuizen) General Cemetery, Groningen, Netherlands S Flynn Add to this record. F/O. Maurice George Gant 571 Squadron (d.27th Mar 1945) Flying Office (Navigator (Bomber))Gant was the Son of Maurice D. and Sophia Gant of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He was aged 21 when he died and is buried in the Leek (Zevenhuizen) General Cemetery, Groningen, Netherlands. S Flynn Add to this record. Wing Co. Ivor Gordon Broom DSO, DFC. 163 Squadron Ivor Broom was born at Cardiff on June 2 1920 where his father was district manager for the Prudential Assurance Company and a Baptist preacher. Ivor was educated at the Boys' County School, Pontypridd. When he was 17, Broom passed the Civil Service exam and began work with the Inland Revenue. He joined the RAF in 1940 and was posted to No 114 Squadron at the rank of Sergeant, where he flew Bristol Blenheim bombers against targets in the Channel along the French and Dutch coasts as well as in Germany. In September 1941 he was detailed to lead six Blenheims to Malta, en route to reinforce Singapore. At Malta Air Vice Marshal Hugh Lloyd commandeered Broom and his aircraft due to the heavy losses his squadron had suffered, leaving the other five planes to proceed to the Far East. Broom was then transferred to 107 Squadron, which was engaged in attacks upon Axis shipping, and land targets in North Africa and Italy. During 1941 Broom was promoted to Pilot Officer. On November 17 1941 he bombed and set ablaze a 4,000-ton ship in the Gulf of Sirte, and helped attack a destroyer for which he was awarded the DFC. By January 1942 when he returned to England he had survived 43 operations with 107 Squadron. After his return from Malta, Broom took an instructor's course at the Central Flying School at Upavon, and he then spent a year there teaching novice Blenheim pilots how to attack at low level. Later he became an instructor for pilots on the de Havilland Mosquito twin-engined fighter-bombers for No 8 Pathfinder Group. In May 1944 Broom went back onto operational flying and joined No 571 squadron, flying the Mosquito XVI. There he teaming up with his navigator (and namesake), Flt Lt Tommy Broom, and they became known as the 'Flying Brooms' and had their plane emblazoned with crossed broomsticks. At this time 571 squadron was part of the Light Night Striking Force (LNSF) making targeted raids into Germany. In their Mosquito - modified to carry a 4,000lb bomb known as 'cookies' they made numerous raids over Germany undertaking precision bombing of selected targets. They also excelled at mine-laying, and Ivor Broom was awarded his second DFC followed a neat low-level operation in which he dropped mines in the path of shipping in the Dortmund-Ems canal. On another raid the Flying Brooms with two fighters on their tail dropped a cookie up the mouth of a railway tunnel in Germany, for which Ivor Broom received a second Bar to his DFC. In autumn 1944 he was promoted acting squadron leader in command of a flight in No 128 (another LNSF Mosquito squadron). A few months later he was appointed acting wing commander to lead No 163 Squadron. Tommy Broom, now DFC and Bar, joined him as squadron navigation officer. The pair then led a series of brilliant offensive operations over Germany and Occupied Europe. When the war in Europe ended on May 8 1945, the Flying Brooms had undertaken 58 missions together (including 22 raids on Berlin). Ivor Broom was awarded a DSO, and Tommy a third DFC. After VE Day, Broom was posted to Ceylon, but was spared further action by the Japanese surrender. Ivor Broom remained in the RAF for the rest of his career, commanding No 28 Spitfire fighter squadron in Singapore and then 57 squadron flying English Electric Canberra jet bombers. In 1955 Broom piloted a specially-modified Canberra from Ottawa to London via the North Pole after which Broom was awarded the AFC. In 1956 he was made responsible for the Bomber Command Development Unit at Wittering, where he led intensive trials on Valiants and Canberras of the nascent nuclear deterrent, V-Force. In 1959 he moved into the Air Secretary's department until 1962, when he was appointed station commander at RAF Bruggen in Germany. Following a year at the Imperial Defence College, two years at the Ministry of Defence, and a spell as commandant of the Central Flying School (relocated by then to Rissington), Broom took command in 1970 of No 11 fighter Group. He was appointed CB in 1972, and KCB in 1975. He concluded his RAF career as controller of National Air Traffic Services and retired in 1980. He died on the 24th January 2003. Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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