ROYAL AUXILIARY AIR FORCE I 100 th ANNIVERSARY
616 Squadron RAuxAF
616 Squadron was formed at Doncaster on 1 st November 1938 under the command of Squadron Leader the Earl of Lincoln . Initially equipped with Hawker Hinds in the bomber role , the Sqn was soon re-rolled to fighters with Gloster Gauntlet bi-planes before Supermarine Spitfire Mk1s were delivered in October 1939 . The first operational sorties were from Leconfield and took place over the evacuation from Dunkirk . The Sqn subsequently moved closer to the frontline at Kenley in August 1940 in the first phase of the Battle of Britain .
Wing tip of “ Dixie ” Dean ’ s Meteor F1 following V1 engagement
The bulk of World War 2 was spent based in the east and south-east of England . Shortly after D-Day however , highly secretive work began which would see 616 Sqn become the world ’ s first jetequipped sqn , with the Gloster Meteor . Early operational Meteor sorties were flown from Manston and included the first ever “ tip ” of a V1 flying bomb on 4 th August 1944 by Flying Officer “ Dixie ” Dean .
Following a channel crossing to Melsbroek in Belgium early in 1945 , the Sqn spent the rest of the war on the continent , advancing with Meteors up into Holland then Germany , ultimately ending up at Lubeck , the furthest east of the entire Allied advance . Following the cessation of hostilities , 616 Sqn was disbanded at the end of August 1945 .
Notable wartime Sqn members included Hugh Dundas , Douglas Bader , and “ Johnnie ” Johnson . The Sqn accumulated 13 DFCs with 2 Bars , 2 George Medals , a DFM , 2 AFCs , a DCM , an MM , a BEM , 2 Croix de Guerre and 6 MiD . Meteor F3 of 616 Sqn , Melsbroek , 1945 Reformed again at Finningley in the summer of 1946 , 616 Sqn spent the next 11 years operating various Mks of evolving Meteors , in what was a terribly dangerous period in the development of jet aviation . 4 separate Meteor accidents cost the lives of 5 616 Sqn aircrew , but perhaps the saddest lethal accident of all was the Mosquito crash in which Flying Officer Jimmy “ Mac ” McCairns DFC ** MM and Aircraftman ( Second Class ) Shaw succumbed ( McCairns story below ).
The Sqn again disbanded in the spring of 1957 before again reforming 62 years later in 2019 at Waddington . In its current incarnation , 616 Squadron consists of 85 part-time positions for ex-Regular personnel , including Reserve Aircrew operating Typhoon , Reaper , the Lancaster , and the full array of BBMF fighters who deliver Subject Matter Expert output where gaps exist in the Regular Service .
Jimmy McCairns
“ Mac ” McCairns , DFC **, MM
McCairns had escaped German captivity twice in WW2 , the second time making it all the way back to Britain via Brussels , Paris , the Pyrenees on foot , Madrid then Gibraltar . In doing so , he became only the 4th RAF man to return from captivity .
He was awarded the MM for his outstanding courage in escaping and evading , but his DFC and 2 bars came from subsequent work in supporting the French and Belgian resistance workers who had helped him escape .
These SOE citations were heavily redacted , but it is known that he flew 32 successful Lysander extraction missions behind German lines . “ Mac ” had returned to civilian work in South Yorkshire after the war and re-joined 616 as a parttime volunteer . His Mosquito XXX crashed on approach to Finningley after a port engine failure during a weekend training flight on 13 th June 1948 .
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