World War I . Aerodrome near St. Omer, 18 July 1918. Formed on 3 March 1918 at
Royal Flying Corps Station Ford, near
Yapton,
West Sussex, as No. 149 (NB) Squadron
RFC, the squadron soon moved to France for night bombing missions above occupied France and Belgium, flying
Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2s. After the war the squadron for three months took part in the occupation force in Germany, being stationed at
Bickendorf, moving to Ireland in March 1919 where the squadron was disbanded on 1 August 1919.
World War II Vickers Wellington The squadron was reformed from 'B' Flight of
No. 99 Squadron RAF on 12 April 1937 under
No. 3 Group RAF at
RAF Mildenhall,
Suffolk where it remained until April 1942. Initially equipped with
Heyford biplane bombers, the squadron converted to
Vickers Wellingtons in January 1939. On 4 September 1939 L4259 was flown on "Ops Brunsbüttel 4/500 GP", the day after the declaration of war against
Germany by
Great Britain. (Source Pilot's Logbook).
Target for Tonight During the last two weeks of March and the first two weeks of April 1941, Wellingtons and their crews of No. 149 Sqn were used for the making of the film
Target for Tonight. Filmed on location at RAF Mildenhall, the Station took the fictitious name of
Millerton Aerodrome in order so not to give away valuable operational information to the enemy, and several other aspects were altered involving the day-to-day operations. The film, produced by the
Crown Film Unit, focused on the planning and execution of an
air raid on Germany, as seen by the crew of Vickers Wellington OJ-F 'F for Freddie'. The exception to this was
Percy Pickard who was at that time
Squadron Leader with
No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron. Pickard played the part of Sqn Ldr Dickson, the captain of 'F for Freddie'.
Short Stirling After being re-equipped with the
Short Stirling in November 1941, the squadron took part in the first 1,000 bomber raid.
Post war After the war no. 149 squadron continued to fly with
RAF Bomber Command, moving to
RAF Tuddenham in April 1946 and then later in November on to
RAF Stradishall. In February 1949 the squadron returned to
RAF Mildenhall, where the Lancasters were replaced with
Avro Lincolns. The squadron remained at Mildenhall until disbanding on 1 March 1950. Retirement was short though, because on 14 August 1950 the squadron was reformed as the RAF's first
Boeing Washington bomber unit, moving to
RAF Coningsby in October of that year. The Washingtons were on loan by the RAF from the
USAF as an interim nuclear bomber pending the arrival of the RAF's own jet bomber, the
Canberra. The squadron reequipped with the Canberra in March 1953 and in August 1954 it relocated to
RAF Ahlhorn in West-Germany, where it joined 125 wing of
Royal Air Force Germany. The following month it moved again, this time to
RAF Gutersloh, where it the unit had its final disbandment two years later on 31 August 1956. ==Aircraft operated==