355 Squadron
&
Mr J. G.
Stean OBE.,F.R.I.C.S.,A.C.I.Arb.,
(my Dad)
SEAC (South East Asia Command)
& The Consolidated Liberator
History
of No. 355 Squadron.
Squadron
Motto
Liberamus
per caerula
(We liberate
through tropical skies)
Squadron Badge
355 Sqn existed
from 18 August 1943 until 31 May 1946 (less than three
years). Its first aircraft (Liberator IIIs) arrived in
October 1943 and it undertook its first bombing mission on
20 November when three aircraft bombed the central railway
station in Mandalay.
It continued to
attack targets in Burma such as the infamous Burma-Siam
railway, airfields, bridges and harbour installations. On
the 2 May 1945, Fighter Commands only VC of WW2, Wg Cdr J B
Nicholson, was flying as a passenger in a 355 Sqn Liberator,
when it ditched at sea following an engine fire. Its last
mission being carried out on 7 August 1945 by four
Liberators attacking the Burma-Siam railway.
With the end of
hostilities, it undertook transport duties including the
dropping of supplies to POWs carrying freight to Panang and
dropping food supplies to the starving inhabitants of
Southern Burma. Originally operating from Salbani in India,
it moved to Digri in January 1946, returning to Salbini in
April. Before disbanding the squadron joined No 159 in
carrying out an aerial survey of the area.
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Squadron Bases were:
Salbani
August 18, 1943 to January 2, 1946
Digri
January 3, 1946 to April 2, 1946
Salbani
April 3, 1946 to May 31, 1946
Aircraft types flown:
Liberator
III October 1943 to July 1944
Liberator
VI May 1944 to September 1945
Liberator
VIII August 1945 to May 1946
355 Squadron -
the last plane
Mr Jack Stean
(5th from right)
Was
this a special pose just for my mum? |
Always
at the centre of things.... |
A
page from the Squadron Operations Log
Salbani,
December 1945
355 Squadron,
Pegu Strip, Salbani, near Calcutta
...and looking
very casual....
LAC J. G.
Stean's Navigation Course - taken from his Flying Log Book
another extract from his
Log Book
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