page_title: No. 78 Squadron RAF
section_title: Reformation and Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: No. 78 Squadron RAF / History / Reformation and Second World War
caption_attribution_description: A Royal Air Force Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk.V bomber (serial T4131) from No. 78 Squadron (code EY-W) in flight, circa 1940.
context_page_description: Number 78 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It most recently operated the AgustaWestland Merlin HC3/3A transport helicopter from RAF Benson until 30 September 2014, when the Merlins were transferred to the Commando Helicopter Force of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm at RNAS Yeovilton.
  Between May 1986 and December 2007, No. 78 Squadron was based at RAF Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, operating Westland Sea King HAR3s and until 2006 the Boeing Chinook HC2.
context_section_description: During the buildup of the RAF in the period before World War II, No. 78 Squadron was reformed at RAF Boscombe Down on 1 November 1936, twenty-two years after it was first formed, by redesignating a flight of the Handley Page Heyford equipped No. 10 Squadron. The new squadron moved to RAF Dishforth in Yorkshire early in 1937, joining No. 4 Group RAF of RAF Bomber Command. In July 1937 it was equipped with Armstrong Whitworth Whitley night bombers.
  On the outbreak of the Second World War, the squadron was designated as a training squadron. It moved to RAF Linton-on-Ouse on 15 October 1939, returning to Dishforth in July when it returned to front-line duties as a night bomber squadron. In February 1941, Whitleys from No. 78 Squadron and No. 51 Squadron, flying from Malta, were used to drop paratroops over southern Italy for Operation Colossus, the first British paratroop operation of the Second World War. In April 1941, the squadron moved to RAF Middleton St. George. In September, the squadron flew its first bombing raid against Berlin. It moved again, to RAF Croft, in October 1941.
  In early 1942, the squadron started to receive four-engine Handley Page Halifaxes to replace its Whitleys, with conversion being completed in March that year, and flying its first operation with the Halifax, against Ostend on 29 April 1942. On the night of 30/31 May 1942, No. 78 Squadron contributed 22 Halifaxes to Operation Millennium, the first "1,000 bomber" raid against Cologne.
  The squadron moved back to Middleton St. George in June 1942 and to Linton-on-Ouse in September 1942. In June 1943, the squadron moved to RAF Breighton to free up Linton-on Ouse for the Canadian bomber force of No. 6 Group.
  In January 1944, the squadron replaced its Merlin-powered Halifax B.IIs with Halifax B.IIIs, powered by Bristol Hercules radial engines which gave greater performance. The squadron continued in the bomber mission until the end of the war in Europe, both against German cities and in direct support of allied ground forces during and after the invasion of France in June 1944. In total, the squadron had dropped 17,000 tonnes of bombs and mines during 6,337 operational sorties, losing 182 aircraft but claiming 28 enemy fighters shot down.
caption: Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V T4131 of No. 78 Squadron, 1940.
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