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Lancaster over Hamburg, January 1943

RAF Mepal

History of RAF Mepal

The airfield was opened in 1943 as a sub-station for Waterbeach. In June 1943 Stirling IIIs for No.75 (New Zealand) Squadron arrived. They replaced their Stirlings with Lancasters in March 1944. In total the Squadron lost 50 Stirlings and 52 Lancasters on operations.

Operation Gomorrah took place on July 24th 1943. The first plane was a Short Stirling from Mepal. When all 791 planes were airborne they travelled to Hamburg where the raids were totally devastating. This was the first operational use of ‘Window’, strips of coarse black paper with a tin foil backing cut to the known wavelength of German radar.

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