This Day in History: 1945-10-02

No. 460 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force was disbanded on 2 October 1945. Initially equipped with twin-engined Wellingtons, the Squadron was formed in England in November 1941 as a Unit of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command. After briefly converting to Halifaxes, the Squadron was re-equipped with Lancaster heavy bombers in October 1942. Lancaster operations began in November with the majority of missions being flown against heavily defended targets in the Ruhr Valley and Berlin. In June 1943, the Unit dispatched twenty-seven Lancasters against Dusseldorf – setting an Bomber Command Squadron record. Two months later, No 460 Squadron became the first Bomber Command squadron fly 1,000 sorties in Lancasters. This extraordinary rate of effort was only possible through the dedicated efforts of ground staff, who maintained one of the highest serviceability rates within Bomber Command. The Squadron flew its last mission of the War in April 1945 when twenty Lancasters destroyed Hitler’s mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden. After Germany’s surrender, the Squadron flew Allied POWs from Germany and dropped food to starving civilians in The Netherlands. Source: airforce.gov.au