RAF Oakington memorial window in Longstanton church

Image: © Adrian S Pye Taken: 21 Mar 2020

The memorial window is for 7 and 218 Squadrons who served at nearby RAF station Oakington. Seven Squadron was formed in 1914, and during the Second World War was part of the Pathfinder Force. The panel on the bottom right reads "Remember here before God those of 7 Squadron who died in action in the Royal Flying Corps 1914-18 and Royal Air Force 1939-45". 7 Squadron was first formed at RFC Farnborough in 1914 and disbanded in 1919. It re-formed at RAF Bircham Newton on 1 June 1923 with the Vickers Vimy as a night heavy bomber squadron. In 1927 it moved to RAF Worthy Down, in Hampshire. The squadron gained a reputation as being one of the leading RAF heavy bomber squadrons, winning the Lawrence Minot Memorial Bombing Trophy six times between 1927 and 1933 and shared in 1934 with 54 Squadron in 1934, achieving an average bombing error of 40 yards. At the outbreak of the Second World War, it continued to be used for training bomber crews, disbanding on 4 April 1940 when it merged with 76 Squadron to form No. 16 OTU. On 1 August 1940 it reformed, at RAF Oakington becoming the first squadron to equip with the new Short Stirling heavy bomber, the first RAF squadron to operate four engined bombers during the Second World War, flying the first bombing raids with the Stirling against oil storage tanks near Rotterdam on the night of 10/11 February 1941. It flew on the 1000 bomber raids to Cologne, Essen and Bremen in May and June 1942. It was transferred to the Pathfinder Force in August 1942, with the job of finding and marking targets for the Main Force of Bomber Command bombers.

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