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Aircraft - Locations - Group and Duty - Books
No. 99 Squadron (Madras Presidency) spent most of the Second World War operating the Vickers Wellington, first from Britain and later from India, where it eventually converted to the Liberator.
For the first few months of the war the squadron was engaged in leaflet dropping flights over Germany. Bombing operations began in April 1940, after the German invasion of Norway. The squadron continued to perform bombing operations from Britain until 14 January 1942.
The squadron was then transferred to India. It would take five months for the unit to come together again, at Ambala, and another five months before it began operations, conducting night raids on Japanese targets in Burma.
The squadron finally lost its Wellingtons in September 1944, when they were replaced by long range Liberator VIs. During the first half of 1945 they operated these aircraft from Dhubalia (Bengal), before moving to Cocos Island in preparation for the planned invasion of Malaya. The Japanese surrender meant that this invasion never happened, and the squadron disbanded on 15 November 1945 on the Cocos Island (reforming two days later at Lyneham in Yorkshire as a transport squadron).
Aircraft
October 1938-October 1942
: Vickers Wellington I, IA and IC
October 1942-November 1943: Vickers Wellington III
June 1943-September 1944: Vickers Wellington X
October 1943-December 1943: Vickers Wellington XI
September 1944-November 1945: Liberator VI
Location
15 November 1934-9 September 1939: Mildenhall
9-15 September 1939: Elmdon
14 September 1939-18 March 1941: Newmarket
18 March 1941-February 1942: Waterbeach
February 1942: Departs for India
6 June 1942: Ground echelons reach Ambala
19 September-25 October 1942: Pandaveswar
25 October 1942-12 April 1943: Digri
12 April-23 May 1943: Chaklala
23 May 1943-26 September 1944: Jessore
26 September 1944-14 July 1944: Dhubalia
29 July-15 November 1945: Cocos Island
Squadron Codes:
Group and Duty
26 September 1939: Bomber squadron with No. 3 Group
Wellington in Action, Ron Mackay. A well illustrated guide to the development and service career of this classic British bomber. Mackay looks at the early development of the Wellington and the unusual geodetic frame that gave it great strength, the period when the Wellington was the mainstay of Bomber Command and the many uses found for the aircraft after it was replaced in the main bomber stream.
