No. 514 Squadron RAF

Members of 514 Sqn were awarded 1 DSO, 84 DFCs, one Bar to the DFC and 26 DFMs.

514 Squadron was part of 3 Group, RAF Bomber Command. It operated between September 1943 and August 1945, initially from RAF Foulsham, and then, from December 1943 onward, from RAF Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire. 437 aircrew were killed flying with the Squadron.Simon Hepworth, Andrew Porrelli, and Roger Guernon. Stephen Kingham (Editor). The Beach Boys: The Men Who Flew With 514 Squadron RAF. Mention the War Ltd. May 2019 .{{Page needed|date=February 2022}}

File:Lancasters at RAF Waterbeach ready for bombing Caen area July 1944 IWM CL 4214.jpg

From 1988 to 2012, the Squadron held an annual reunion in June at Waterbeach Barracks hosted by the Royal Engineers. A service of remembrance was held in the parish church, and the BBMF Lancaster made a flypast over the former RAF airfield.Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum, unpublished archives.

In 2013, following the barracks' closure, a reunion was held in the village on 15 June with the Lancaster flypast over the Recreation Ground.{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/29126266@N00/4432627297/|title=514 Squadron RAF Waterbeach|publisher=Flickr, Rob68|access-date=14 March 2010}}

In 2015, a reunion was again held in Waterbeach Barracks in a new community building.{{cite web|title=Waterbeach Barracks and Airfield, 514 Squadron Reunion at Waterbeach Barracks|url=http://www.waterbeachbarracks.co.uk/514-squadron-reunion-at-waterbeach-barracks/|publisher=Urban&Civic|access-date=7 February 2016}}

The 514 Squadron Association and the Army established a museum in Waterbeach Barracks in 1985. This museum closed in September 2012, as the barracks closed permanently in March 2013, although the contents have been saved.{{cite web|title=Museum's collection is saved|url=http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/Museums-collection-is-saved-18122012.htm|access-date=21 December 2012}} It expected that the new Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum will return to its building at the Barracks, and re-open in early summer 2016.{{cite web|title=Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum|url=https://sites.google.com/site/rafwaterbeachmuseum/|access-date=16 April 2016}}{{update needed|why=has the museum returned? That was six years ago now|date=February 2022}}

• List of Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons

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• {{cite book |last=Bowyer |first=Michael J.F. |first2=John D.R. |last2=Rawlings |title=Squadron Codes, 1937–56 |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd. |year=1979 |isbn=0-85059-364-6 }}
• {{cite book |last=Delve |first=Ken |title=The Source Book of the RAF |location= Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK |publisher=Airlife Publishing |year= 1994 |isbn=1-85310-451-5}}
• {{cite book |last=Dison |first= Harry |title=Some of the story of 514 Squadron: Lancasters at Waterbeach |publisher= Mention The War! Publications |year=2015}} (available from the Museum)
• {{cite book |last=Falconer |first= Jonathan |title=Bomber Command Handbook, 1939–1945 |location= Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK |publisher= Sutton Publishing |year= 2003 |isbn=0-7509-3171-X}}
• {{cite book |last1=Flintham |first1= Vic |first2= Andrew |last2=Thomas |title=Combat Codes: A Full Explanation and Listing of British, Commonwealth and Allied Air Force Unit Codes since 1938 |location=Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK |publisher=Airlife Publishing Ltd. |year=2003 |isbn=1-84037-281-8}}
• {{cite book |last=Halley |first=James J. |title=The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918–1988 |year=1988 |location=Tonbridge, Kent, UK |publisher=Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd.|isbn=0-85130-164-9 }}
• {{cite book |last=Hamlin |first= John F. |first2= Oliver J. |last2=Merrington |title=At the 'Beach: the story of Royal Air Force Waterbeach and Waterbeach Barracks |location= Peterborough |publisher= GMS Enterprises |year= 2011 |isbn=1-904514-63-4}}
• {{cite book |last=Hepworth |first= Simon |last2= Porrelli |first2=Andrew |title=Striking Through Clouds, The War Diary of No. 514 Squadron, RAF |location= Zug, Switzerland |publisher= Mention The War! Publications |year=2014 |isbn=1495440486}}
• {{cite book |last= Jefford |first= C.G. |title= RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912 |year=2001 |edition=2nd |publisher=Airlife Publishing Ltd. |location=Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK |isbn=1-85310-053-6 }}
• {{cite book |last=Moyes |first=Philip J.R. |title=Bomber Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft |location=London |publisher=Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd. |year=1976 |isbn=0-354-01027-1 }}

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{{Commons category|No. 514 Squadron RAF}}

• [http://www.514squadron.co.uk/ 514 Squadron RAF website] - commemorates all who served in the Squadron
• [https://www.facebook.com/514SquadronRaf 514 Squadron Facebook page]
• [http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/bombercommandno514squadron.cfm Squadron history, on RAF website]
• [http://www.rafcommands.com/Bomber/514B.html No. 514 Squadron RAF movement and equipment history]
• [http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/allied/royalairforce/514sqd-raf.php The Wartime Memories Project - 514 Sqn]
• Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140211195151/http://www.rafweb.org/Sqn500-520.htm Squadron histories for nos. 500–520 squadron on RAFweb's Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation]
• [http://www.aircrew-saltire.org/lib147.htm Former Air Gunner tells his story] - William MacDonald
• [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8725040788918615931 Video about the last flight of 514 Squadron Lancaster A2-C, lost 28 July 1944]

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{{Royal Air Force}}

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Category:Bomber squadrons of the Royal Air Force in World War II

514 Squadron

Category:Military units and formations established in 1943