October bombing attack

No. 24 Squadron was the RAF’s VIP transport squadron and had been based at RAF Hendon since 1933. Among other communications duties, the squadron operated the Air Despatch Letter Service. Many political and diplomatic personnel were flown from Hendon: one aircraft used by the squadron was Winston Churchill’s personal aircraft. A significant number of the aircrew on strength in 1940 had escaped from Czechoslovakia. On the night of 7/8 October 1940, the No. 24 Squadron hangar, part of Building 90 (the Grahame-White Factory) was destroyed by a German oil bomb. Oil bombs, known by the Germans as Flammenbombe, contained an oil mixture and a high explosive bursting charge to spread the burning oil over the widest area. Fourteen of No. 24 Squadron’s aircraft were destroyed in the burnt-out hangar.