Manchester L7427 OL-Q of No 83 Squadron RAF in flight
In March 1942, this plane was part of No. 83 Squadron stationed at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. The nose of the aircraft showed mission symbols indicating that it had completed 10 operational sorties at that time. It went on to complete four more missions before it was lost on its 15th mission, during a raid on the Blohm und Voss shipyards in Hamburg. No. 83 Squadron was the first to use the powerful “Cookie” bomb, weighing 4,000 pounds (1814 kilograms), in an operational capacity.