No. 5 (Bomber) Group RAF No. 5 (Operations) Group RAF
Royal Air Force Ensign
Active	1 April 1918 – 15 May 1919 1 September 1937 – 15 December 1945
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Type	Royal Air Force group
Role	Strategic andtactical bombing
Part of	RAF Bomber Command
Group Headquarters	St Vincents Hall (October 1937 - November 1943) Morton Hall,Swinderby (November 1943 - December 1945)
Motto	Undaunted[1]
Commanders
Notable commanders	Air Vice-Marshal Arthur Travers "Bomber" Harris Air Vice-Marshal Ralph Cochrane
Insignia
Group badge	A lion rampant

No. 5 Group RAF (5 Gp) was aRoyal Air Force bombergroup of theSecond World War, led during the latter part (February 1943 – 1945) by AVM SirRalph Cochrane.

Overview

The Group was formed on 1 September 1937, with its headquarters atRAF Mildenhall, inSuffolk. In October the same year, the group headquarters (HQ) was moved toSt Vincents Hall inGrantham,Lincolnshire. During the Second World War, 5 Group was concentrated primarily in south Lincolnshire (whereas 1 Group was more concentrated in the north of the county).^[2] Most of the 5 Group airfields were around Lincoln, includingRAF Scampton.

By the end of the Second World War, the Group had grown to 18 squadrons, 17 equipped with theAvro Lancaster and one withDe Havilland Mosquitos. During the war, it also included a proportion ofRoyal Australian Air Force (or Australian-born RAF) personnel, both aircrews and ground staff, who were concentrated in three "Article XV squadrons":No. 455 Squadron RAAF from August 1941-April 1942;^[3]No. 463 Squadron RAAF from November 1943; andNo. 467 Squadron RAAF from November 1942.^[4] The Group also famously included the eliteNo. 617 Squadron, perhaps better known as "The Dambusters". 617 Sqn was formed in March 1943, and comprised RAF,RAAF,RCAF andRNZAF aircrew personnel, who had been hand-picked from squadrons throughout Bomber Command.

Led by 617 Squadron, the Group often engaged in special missions, using new weapons, such asBarnes Wallis'sbouncing bombs, and two type of "earthquake bomb":Tallboy andGrand Slam.

1939 – 1945

From 11 September 1939 until 22 November 1940,Air Vice Marshal (AVM)Arthur Harris was in charge. The group started the war with 10 squadrons, all equipped with theHandley Page Hampden. The Group continued to fly only Hampdens until the northern winter of 1940–1941 when it began to convert to the newAvro Manchester.

Early in 1942, the Manchester, was replaced by its four-engined variant: theAvro Lancaster, started to equip the group squadrons. On 17 October 1942, underOperation Robinson, some 86 Lancasters from 5 Group (without fighter escort) flew deep into occupied France to attack the Schneider armaments works atLe Creusot and the associated electrical station atMontchanin. On the night of 22–23 October, 85 Lancasters of the Group attackedGenoa without a single loss. On 24 October, 74 Lancasters delivered a daylight attack onMilan.

In May 1943, 617 Squadron breached two of theRuhr dams during the famous "Dams Raid":Operation Chastise.

AVMRalph Cochrane, who was to become influential in terms of Bomber Command tactics, took command of 5 Group in October 1943. Group HQ was moved to Morton Hall, atRAF Swinderby in November 1943,

Using theStabilizing Automatic Bomb Sight (SABS) and the 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) Tallboy, 617 Sqn achieved a bombing error of only 94 yd (86 m) at theV Weapon launch site atAbbeville, during December 1943.

During the lead-up toD-day, Cochrane was an advocate of low-level marking, to improve accuracy, and lobbied heavily to be allowed to prove the principle operationally. New systems of target-marking were developed as result and were tested by 617 Squadron – especially its commanding officer, Wing CommanderLeonard Cheshire, using thede Havilland Mosquito andNorth American Mustang. (Cheshire was subsequently awarded theVictoria Cross and taken off active operations). In April 1944 two Pathfinder squadrons,No. 83 andNo. 97, along withNo. 627 Squadron equipped with Mosquitos, were returned to 5 Group allowing them to act as an independent force using their own marking techniques.^[4]

The special missions includedattacks on the German battleshipTirpitz in late 1944 and the use of the Grand Slam against the strategically-importantBielefeld railway viaduct, in March 1945.

5 Group was disbanded on 15 December 1945.

• First "thousand-bomber attack" onCologne on 30 May 1942 (shared)
• "Dambuster" attack on the dams at theMöhne Reservoir, theEdersee andSorpedam on 17 May 1943 (without backup)
• Operation Bellicose, the first‘shuttle raid’ of the war, against rocket facilities nearLake Constance and shipping atLa Spezia Naval Base via Tunisia, in June 1943.
• Operation Hydra against thePeenemünde Army Research Center on 17 August 1943
• Attack on Königsberg, 29 August 1944
• Attack on Braunschweig, 15 October 1944 (without backup)
• Attack onHeilbronn, 4 December 1944 (without backup)
• Attack onDresden on 13 February 1945 (without backup on the first attack)
• Grand Slam attack onSchildesche viaduct near Bielefeld on 14 March 1945 (without backup)
• Attack onWürzburg, 16 March 1945 (shared)
• Attack on the oil refinery atTønsberg in SouthernNorway, the last raid by heavy bombers of Bomber Command in World War II.

1918 to 1919

• 1 April 1918Lieutenant ColonelFrederick Halahan
• May 1918Brigadier-GeneralCharles Laverock Lambe

1937 to 1945

• 17 August 1937Air CommodoreWilliam Bertram Callaway
• 11 September 1939Air Vice-MarshalArthur Travers Harris
• 22 November 1940 Air Vice-MarshalNorman Bottomley
• 12 May 1941 Air Vice-MarshalJohn Slessor
• 25 April 1942 Air Vice-MarshalAlec Coryton
• 28 February 1943 Air Vice-MarshalRalph Cochrane
• 16 January 1945 Air Vice-MarshalHugh Constantine^[6]

• List of Royal Air Force groups

• RAF History.
• Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Group No's 1 – 9

• Royal Air Force groups
• Royal Air Force groups of the Second World War
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1945
• Bomber aircraft units and formations of the Royal Air Force
• Military units and formations established in 1918
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1919
• Military units and formations established in 1937

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2017
• Use British English from December 2018
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Short description matches Wikidata