311 BOMBER SQUADRON

No. 311 Squadron was formed at Honington, Suffolk, on 29th July, 1940, from Czech Air Force personnel who had formerly served in France and had escaped to this country at the time of the French collapse. Flying Wellington bombers and forming part of No. 3 Group, it first went into action on the night of 10th/11th September, 1940, and continued in the bomber role (being based at East Wretham, satellite of Honington, from mid-September onwards) until late April, 1942, when it was transferred to coastal command and Aldergrove and given a general-reconnaissance role. By then, it had operated 150 times, flown 1,021 operational sorties, and dropped more than 1,300 tons of bombs on enemy targets; these included Berlin, Bonn, Boulogne, Brest, Cologne, Flushing, Essen, Kiel, Paris and Turin. Shortly after joining Coastal Command No. 311 took part (as did certain other units of "Coastal") in the third 1,000-bomber raid, on Bremen; on this occasion its Wellingtons operated from Birchan Newton. In June 1945, No.311 transferred to Transport Command and bagan flights between the UK and Czechoslovakia. In 15 February 1946 the squadron was disbanded as an RAF unit.