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Bernard Warren

Name : Bernard Warren

Joined the RAF on 25th January 1943 and qualified as an Air Gunner from No7 AGS Stormey Down in July 1943. After ITW he was posted to 28 OTU in August where he crewed up as a Rear Gunner. The crew then moved to No 1662 Conversion Unit at Blyton until they were posted to 103 Sqn - 1 Group - Elsham Wolds. His first op as a spare Mid-upper Gunner was to Augsberg on 25th February 1944. On the same op his pilot went with another crew and failed to return. With a new pilot they commenced ops and had completed seven when they were shot down and baled out over Dusseldorf on 22nd April 1944. He spent the next 12 months in POW camps and left the RAF in August 1946.

Squadrons for : Bernard Warren
A list of all squadrons known to have been served with by Bernard Warren. A profile page is available by clicking the squadron name.
Squadron	Info
No.103 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 1st September 1917 Fate : Disbanded 31st July 1975 Nili me tangere - Touch me not Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of No.103 Sqn RAF	No.103 Sqn RAF No 103 Squadron RFC was formed on 1st September 1917, at Beaulieu, Hampshire and in 1918 was employed on day-bombing and reconnaissance missions on the Western Front flying DH9 aircraft. 103 Squadron was disbanded in 1919. In August 1936, as No.103 (Bomber) Squadron, was reformed and flew Hawker Hinds. With the outbreak of World War Two, 103 Squadron were equipped with Fairey Battles and given the role of short-range day-and night-bombing attacks. Their first misison was on the 10th of May 1940 : 4 Fairey Battles were sent to bomb German troops advancing through Luxembourg. From the four aircraft, three were lost. Their other missions included bombing the Meuse bridges and the invasion ports. The squadorn would later be re-equipped with heavier bombers with longer-range - the Wellington bomber (Oct 1940-Jul 1942) followed by Halifaxes (Jul 1942-Oct 1942) and finally Lancasters. In August 1943, it contributed 24 Lancasters to the force of 600-odd Bomber Command heavies which was sent to make the first-ever raid to Peenemunde to bomb the German V-weapons experimental station. The most distinguished Lancaster of them all, Lancaster III ED888 M2 (Mike Squared), was flown by 103 Squadron flying initially 66 missions before being transferred to 576 Squadron where it flew another 65 missions before returning back to 103 squadron to fly a further 9 missions plus, logging a total of 140 missions and totalling 974 operational hours. The aircraft made its first operational sortie - to Dortmund on 4/5th May 1943, This was a Bomber Command record but the aircraft Mike Squared was not saved from the scrap yard to be preserved and was finally scrapped in 1947. 103 Squadorns last bombing mission was on 25th April 1945 when 16 Lancasters bombed SS barracks at Berchtesgaden, but still had a roll to play as on 7th May 1945 : 19 Lancasters from the squadron dropped supplies to Dutch at Rotterdam.

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