Royal Air Force

Scroll down for 299, 624, 138 & 161 Squadrons RAF

299 Special Duties Squadron RAF

The 299 Squadron (Y-Worry) is set on a piece of stone from Hereford that cost just £18 in 2008. All the crew survived WW2.
  • Memorial Text
  • X9-Y (Worry!)
  • 299 Squadron Royal Air Force
  • Special Operations Service
  • To the aircrew of Short Stirling MKIV – callsign ‘X9-Y’ (Worry!)
  • This crew were together from 1943 until the end of hostilities in Europe.
  • During that time they flew 3 supply missions to Arnhem for Operation Garden and towed gliders for Operation Varsity, the Rhine Crossing.
  • They were also on Special Operations duties with solo flights to Auxerre, Bergerac, the Hague, Brussels, Rotterdam, Utrecht, the Sogue Fjord, Copenhagan and Eindhoven.
  • The crew were among the first British to land in Oslo, Norway at the end of hostilities and were also involved in the repatriation of POW’s as the Allies advanced on Germany.
  • F/O Bert Horan Australian
  • W/O Jack Fry
  • W/O Basil Jaggard
  • W/O Reg Lowmanbaker
  • W/O Maurice Davis
  • W/O Gus Tyers
  • Memorial competed in 2006
  • Further Information
  • 299 Squadron RAF
  • 299 War Memories
  • 299 Operational Records

624 Special Duties Squadrons RAF

624 Squadron RAF. This memorial and the original website were orchestrated by Ron McKeon who is remembered in the Sun Room.

No 138 and No 161 Squadrons Royal Air Force

  • Memorial Text
  • In Proud Memory of No 138 and No 161 (Special Duties) Squadrons.
  • Royal Air Force Tempsford 1942-1945
  • The Nazi occupation of much of Western Europe in early 1940 posed many challenges for the British Secret Services.
  • A high priority was to find an effective means of infiltrating and exfiltrating agents and later, reliable methods for supplying the growing resistance movements with arms and ammunition.
  • The work fell outside of the normal duties of RAF Squadrons so in March 1942 RAF Tempsford in Bedfordshire became the base for No 138 and No 161 Squadrons.
  • Flying mainly by the light of the full moon, these two squadrons operated throughout the length and breadth of Western Europe, delivering agents and supplies.
  • Without the agents, the secret services would have been hamstrung and without the supplies, the resistance movements would have been unable to participate in the armed struggle.
  • The nature of the work undertaken by these squadrons is reflected in their motto’s – FOR FREEDOM & LIBERATE.
  • By the end of the war the squadrons had, between them lost in excess of 600 men.
  • Special then, Special now, Special Always.
  • Garden 1 – Special Operations – Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove – 2016.
  • Further Information
  • 138 Squadron RAF
  • 138 War Memories
  • 138 Operational Records
  • 161 Squadron RAF
  • 161 War Memories
  • 161 Operational Records
  • RAF Tempsford

GALLERY

Special Op’s Garden from the Friends Garden.


PAGE UPDATED 20TH OCTOBER 2025