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No.68 Sqn RAF

Name : No.68 Sqn RAF Founded : 30th January 1917 Disbanded : 20th January 1959 Country : UK Fate : Disbanded 20th January 1959 More Details : Vzdy pripraven - Always ready Known Code Letters : , WM,

Known Service Details :
Pilot or Aircrew	Rank	Start of Service	End of Service	Known Dates	Aircraft	Airframes	Notes
John William Maxwell “Max� Aitken		unknown	unknown	20th April 1942	Hurricane		Commanding 68 Squadron flying Blenheims as a night-fighter unit with mainly Czech crews. He shot down a Do 17 on the night of 30 April and another on the night of 29/30 May and on the night of 23/24 shot down a Ju 88 and a Do 217. He was awarded the DSO and the Czech Military Cross.
Jack Duffy	Sergeant	unknown	unknown	17th March 1945	Mosquito	NT531
Eric Loveland	Flying Officer	unknown	unknown	17th March 1945	Mosquito	NT531
Miroslav Mansfeld	flight commander	17th July 1941	15th May 1943		Beaufighter
Oliver Bertram Morrogh-Ryan	Pilot Officer	unknown	26th July 1941		Beaufighter	T3354	Killed in Action
John Pemberton		unknown	unknown		Mosquito

Pilots and Aircrew for : No.68 Sqn RAF
A list of all aircrew from our database who are associated with this squadron. A profile page is available by clicking their name.
Name	Info
Aitken, John William Maxwell “Maxâ€� Click the name above to see a profile of Aitken, John William Maxwell “Maxâ€�    Died : 1 / 5 / 1985	Aitken, John William Maxwell “Maxâ€� 601 Squadron. Born in Montreal and On 16 May, 1940 he flew to France with the Hurricanes of “Aâ€� Flight to reinforce 3 Squadron. He was quite successful being involved in the destruction of six enemy aircraft. He returned to England as an acting S/Ldr and took command of 601 Squadron and destroyed a He 111 25 June,1940. For this and for his victories in France he was awarded the DFC 9/7/40. On 25/6/41, flying a Spitfire he shot down a Me 109 in a sweep over France. Commanding 68 Squadron flying Blenheims as a night-fighter unit with mainly Czech crews. He shot down a Do 17 on the night of 30 April and another on the night of 29/30 May and on the night of 23/24 shot down a Ju 88 and a Do 217. He was awarded the DSO and the Czech Military Cross. His operational tour complete, he was posted in February 1943 to HQ Eastern Mediterranean in the Fighter Tactics Branch. On 05 March, 1944 flying in a Beaufighter of 46 Squadron he shot down two Ju 52s, probably a third and damaged a fourth. His victories now totaled 14. He retired in 1946 as a Group Captain. He died 01 May, 1985. The RAF Museum at Tangmere has in its collection the flying boots Max Aitken wore in 1940 when at RAF Tangmere. It is said that when off duty and frequenting a public house in Bognor Regis, Max Aitken was unable to pay his bill and left his flying boots behind as payment.
Bobek, Ladislav Click the name above to see a profile of Bobek, Ladislav    Died : 14 / 12 / 1981	Bobek, Ladislav
Duffy, Jack Click the name above to see a profile of Duffy, Jack	Duffy, Jack On 17th March 1945 he was navigator of Mosquito NT531 WM-O of No.68 Sqn when it intercepted a Ju88.
Loveland, Eric Click the name above to see a profile of Loveland, Eric	Loveland, Eric Flew the Mosquito with No.68 Squadron. On 17th March 1945 he was pilot of Mosquito NT531 WM-O when it intercepted a Ju88.
Mansfeld, Miroslav Click the name above to see a profile of Mansfeld, Miroslav    Died : 22 / 10 / 1991	Mansfeld, Miroslav Sergeant Miroslav Jan Mansfeld Mansfeld performs an auto mechanic training at Skoda in Prague before engaging as a cadet in the Czechoslovak Air Force in 1930. After completing his training he was assigned to the regiment on 6 flying Letov S16. He was then assigned as a test pilot in the Flight Research Center. In 1937, he made six escorts of SB 2 bombers from the Soviet Union. In 1939, he was affceté to the staff but in March, following the German invasion, he left his country to go to Poland and then France where he joined the Foreign Legion in North Africa. In February 1940, with the rank of Chief Corporal, he joined a bomber unit equipped with 210 MB in the South of France. On the occasion of a delivery of a bomber in North Africa, following the entry into the war of Italy, he decided to go to Gibraltar and reach England. After having trained on Hurricane to 6 OTU at Sutton Bridge, he was posted to 111 Squadron in October 1940, winning his first victory the following month. In April 1941 he was sent to Church Fenton in UTO 54 to conduct his conversion to night hunting. There he was promoted to officer and joined the Squadron 68 in July. After two missions especially well conducted during which he shot down 5 aircraft including 1 in collaboration, he received the DFC on July 10, 1942. He won more victories in December 1942 and March 1943, claiming in passing the probable destruction of a E-Boat 18 February 1943. It is then sent to the 51 to OTU instructor Turnwood Farm in May 1943 and returned to Squadron 68 in October as Flight Commander. It kills two new aircraft and destroyed 2 flying bombs and the DSO will receive 21 May 1945 for the excellence of its results and its ability to command. After the war he returned to Czechoslovakia but left the country during the communist accession to power in 1948. He returned to England and reinstates the RAF where he will receive the AFC in 1953. He retired in 1958 with the rank of Squadron Leader.
Morrogh-Ryan, Oliver Bertram Click the name above to see a profile of Morrogh-Ryan, Oliver Bertram    Died : 26 / 7 / 1941	Morrogh-Ryan, Oliver Bertram Pilot on Spitfires in the Battle of Britain with No.41 Sqn. Killed aged 22 on July 26th 1941 whn his Beaufighter Mk.Ic T3354 of No.68 Sqn collided in bad weather with The Wrekin hill in Shropshire during a training flight. He is buried in Barton Churchyard. Son of Leonard and Laura Morrogh-Ryan; husband of Marguerite Morrogh-Ryan, of Brettanby Manor.
Oxby, Douglas Click the name above to see a profile of Oxby, Douglas    Died : 10 / 4 / 2009	Oxby, Douglas Wing Commander Douglas Oxby, DSO, DFC, DFM and Bar, wartime night fighter navigator, was born on July 10, 1920. Douglas Alfred Oxby was born in Cardiff in 1920 and educated at Canton High School there. He worked as a barrister’s clerk before enlisting in the RAF in 1940. Wing Commander Douglas Oxbys combat career lasted, with one rest from operations, from the autumn of 1941 until the spring of 1945. Douglas Oxby was responsible for 22 successful interceptions, making him the RAF’s top-scoring radar operator of the Second World War. These combat victories were achieved first in Beaufighters with the Australian pilot Flight Lieutenant Mervyn Shipard,with 68 squadron there first air victory was a Heinkel HE 111 bomber which they shot down over llangefri in North Wales. They were next posted to 89 Squadron, operating first out of Egypt and then, as a detachment of the squadron, sent to join in the desperate air defence of Malta, where they were in the thick of the action. From July 1942, a particularly intense month, they often took off to intercept the enemy with bombs falling on their airfield all around them. In this month and during the resumption of the enemy’s air offensive in October that year they accounted for about eight Axis aircraft, mainly Ju88s and He111s. Oxby took part in the defenc eof Tobruk and in June 1943 Oxby was posted back to the UK where he was commissioned. In August 1944 Oxby was posted to 219 Squadron (Mosquitoes) commanded by Peter Green, fresh himself from a busy summer intercepting V1 “buzz bombsâ€�. Green and Oxby now embarked on a period of remarkable success as the RAF’s night fighters grappled with the enemy’s tactical bombers and fighters over the battlefields of northwest Europe. Their most spectacular achievement was the destruction of three Ju87s in a single sortie over Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and they continued to take a toll both of this type and the Ju88. Once feared as the “Stukaâ€� by the Polish, French and British armies to which its presence had been the bane in the early battles of the war, the Ju87 had by this time been exposed as a lumbering anachronism. For his service and achievement he was awarded two Distinguished Flying Medals (he had begun flying as a sergeant) a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Distinguished Service Order. His combat Service saw him in North Wales, and the Mediterranean and North Africa and operations supporting the North West Europe campaign over the Netherlands and Germany. After the war Oxby was granted a permanent commission and rose to the rank of wing commander. After appointments that included directing staff of the Joint Services Staff College and assistant air adviser, British High Commission, Ottawa, he retired from the RAF in 1969. Thereafter he made his home in Canada where he was a civil servant in the Ministry of Health in Ontario until 1984. Sadly he died on April 10, 2009, aged 88.
Pemberton, John Click the name above to see a profile of Pemberton, John	Pemberton, John Also known as Zbysek Necas, Czechoslovakian 'Nicky' joined 68 Squadron as a Navigator and flew Mosquitos as night time defence over the British mainland, accounting for 3 German aircraft. Post War he flew Lightnings and Phantoms in the Cold War against the Russians.
Shipard, Merv Click the name above to see a profile of Shipard, Merv    Died : 1 / 3 / 2003	Shipard, Merv In August 1941 Australian Merv Shipard was posted to 68 Sqn, along with his radar operator Douggie Oxby (later to become the RAFs top scoring radar operator, assisting in 22 kills), here they scored their first victory. On the 1st of November 1941 Mervyn Shipard DFC intercepted and destroyed a bomb laden Heinkel III headed for Liverpool. The stricken aircraft crashed into farmland near Llangefni on Anglesey – which is an island off Wales. Shipard and Oxby deliberately sought out more opportunities together to become involved in the thick of the action. In early 1942 they were posted to Egypt to join 89 Sqn, before being sent to Malta on 22nd June, where they quickly scored six confirmed kills, and probably one more. They the claimed 6 kills in North Africa. Merv Shipard was posted back to Australia, having achieved 13 confirmed victories. Merv Shipard joined Qantas in 1957 he started flying L1049, Electras and then 707s his final flight was in June 1973 after which he was appointed B707 flight simulator instructor, retireing from Qantas in June 1979. Sadly Mervyn Charles Shipard DFC and Bar passed away on the 1st March 2003.

Aircraft for : No.68 Sqn RAF
A list of all aircraft associated with No.68 Sqn RAF. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name.
Aircraft	Info
Beaufighter Click the name above to see prints featuring Beaufighter aircraft. Manufacturer : Bristol Production Began : 1940 Number Built : 5564	Beaufighter BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER The Bristol Beaufighter was a Torpedo Bomber and had a crew of two. with a maximum speed of 330mph and a ceiling of 29,000 feet. maximum normal range of 1500 miles but could be extended to 1750 miles. The Bristol Beaufighter carried four 20mm cannon in the belly of the aircraft and upto six .303in browning machine guns in the wings. it could also carry eight 3 -inch rockets, 1605 lb torpedo or a bomb load of 1,000 lb. The Bristol Beaufighter first flew in July 1939 and with some modifications entered service with the Royal Air Force in July 1940. In the winter of 1940 - 1941 the Beaufighter was used as a night fighter. and in March 1941 the aircraft was used at Coastal Command as a long range strike aircraft. and in 1941, the Beaufighter arrived in North Africa and used as a forward ground attack aircraft. The Bristol Beaufighter was used also in India, Burma and Australia. A total of 5,564 Beaufighters were built until production in Britain finished in 1945, but a further 364 were built in Australia for the Australian Air Force
Mosquito Click the name above to see prints featuring Mosquito aircraft. Manufacturer : De Havilland Production Began : 1940 Retired : 1955 Number Built : 7781	Mosquito Used as a night fighter, fighter bomber, bomber and Photo-reconnaissance, with a crew of two, Maximum speed was 425 mph, at 30,300 feet, 380mph at 17,000ft. and a ceiling of 36,000feet, maximum range 3,500 miles. the Mosquito was armed with four 20mm Hospano cannon in belly and four .303 inch browning machine guns in nose. Coastal strike aircraft had eight 3-inch Rockets under the wings, and one 57mm shell gun in belly. The Mossie at it was known made its first flight on 25th November 1940, and the mosquito made its first operational flight for the Royal Air Force as a reconnaissance unit based at Benson. In early 1942, a modified version (mark II) operated as a night fighter with 157 and 23 squadron's. In April 1943 the first De Haviland Mosquito saw service in the Far east and in 1944 The Mosquito was used at Coastal Command in its strike wings. Bomber Commands offensive against Germany saw many Mosquitos, used as photo Reconnaissance aircraft, Fighter Escorts, and Path Finders. The Mosquito stayed in service with the Royal Air Force until 1955. and a total of 7781 mosquito's were built.