Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

No. 102 Squadron (RAF)

For the purposes of this site, No. 102 Squadron is included because it was one of the many RAF Squadrons in which RAAF personnel served fought and died during WW2.

This abbreviated history ex Wikipedia

 Re-formed in 1935, by the outbreak of WW2 it was equipped with Armstrong Whitworth Whitley medium bombers.  The squadron was active from the second day of the Second World War, dropping leaflets in the night from 4 to 5 September 1939 over Germany. From 1 September till 10 October 1940 the squadron was loaned to RAF Coastal Command and spent six weeks carrying out convoy escort duties from RAF Prestwick, before resuming bomber raids. Operations Record Books seen at the Public Record Office in Kew show that 2 Whitley Mk.Vs flew out of Topcliffe on 27 November 1940 to bomb "docks and shipping" at Le Havre. One of these planes "was not heard from after take off" but the other returned safely having dropped its 2x500lb and 6x250 lb bombs successfully. By February 1942 the Whitleys were replaced by the Handley Page Halifax. The squadron continued for the next thirty-six months to fly night sorties (including the thousand bomber raids) over Germany. In 1944 the squadron attacked rail targets in France in preparation for the invasion.  It was transferred to Transport Command in early 1945.