No. 156 Squadron RAF
Active	12 October 1918 – 9 December 1918 14 February 1942 – 25 September 1945
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Part of	No. 3 Group RAF,Bomber Command (Feb 42-Aug 42) No. 8 Group RAF,Bomber Command (Aug 42-Sep 45)
Motto	We light the way[1][2]
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	A figure of Mercury holding a torch[1][2]
Squadron Codes	GT (Feb 1942 - Sep 1945)[3][4]

No. 156 Squadron RAF was aRoyal Air Force Squadron that was active as a bomber unit inWorld War II.

No. 156 Squadron Royal Air Force was first formed on 12 October 1918 atRAF Wyton^[2][5] and equipped withDH 9 aircraft, but was disbanded on 9 December 1918 without becoming operational.^[6]

The squadron reformed in February 1942 from the home echelon of40 Squadron^[1] atRAF Alconbury, in theHuntingdonshire area ofCambridgeshire, as part ofNo. 3 Group RAF and was equipped withWellingtons.^[2] In August 1942 it joinedNo. 8 Group RAF it became one of the originalpathfinder squadrons, converting toLancasters in January 1943. It continued in the pathfinder role until the end of the war, being based atRAF Warboys,RAF Upwood and finally its original founding base,RAF Wyton, where it disbanded on 25 September 1945.^[2][5] The Jamaican airmanBilly Strachan, who would go onto become a pioneer of Black civil rights in Britain, once served as an air gunner with the squadron.^[7][8]

• Gordon Cochrane
• Peter Isaacson
• Frank Watkins
• Pilot OfficerColin Kirkus - lost without trace 13/14 September 1942 on a mission to Bremen in Vickers WellingtonBJ879.
• Billy Strachan - famous for surviving 33 missions during a time when the average life expectancy for an RAF crew was 7 operations.^[9][10]

There is a memorial to the crash ofAvro Lancaster ED840, 156 Squadron, which crashed in the town inLier,Belgium on 17 June 1943. It was on a mission toCologne when it was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. In the Netherlands is a memorial for the Avro Lancaster ND559 crew. The crew was on 22 May 1944, on a mission toDuisburg. On the way back the plane was shot down aboveMolenaarsgraaf andBrandwijk.

• Bowyer, Michael J.F. and John D.R. Rawlings.Squadron Codes, 1937-56. Cambridge, UK: Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1979.ISBN 0-85059-364-6.
• Flintham, Vic and Andrew Thomas.Combat Codes: A full explanation and listing of British, Commonwealth and Allied air force unit codes since 1938. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 2003.ISBN 1-84037-281-8.
• Halley, James J.The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918-88. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988.ISBN 0-85130-164-9.
• Jefford, C.G.RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001.ISBN 1-84037-141-2.
• Moyes, Philip J.R.Bomber Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1976.ISBN 0-354-01027-1.
• Wadsworth, Michael P.They Led the Way: the Story of Pathfinder Squadron 156. Beverley: Highgate Publications Ltd., 1992.ISBN 0-948929-58-8.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNo. 156 Squadron RAF.

• 156 Squadron site
• History of No.'s 156–160 Squadrons at RAF Web
• 156 Squadron history on the official RAF website

• Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons
• Military units and formations established in 1918
• 1918 establishments in England

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from August 2015
• Use British English from August 2015
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Commons category link is on Wikidata