214 Squadron started with the Handley Page Type O/100 bomber but soon got the more powerful O/400 in the middle of 1918 with which it continued to fly against German strategic targets.

On returning from Northern Ireland, the squadron flew directly to a new base, RAF Scampton, Lincs, but in October 1936 seven of their Virginia aircraft were damaged on the ground due to 70mph winds.

The squadron immediately re-positioned to Feltwell's satellite airfield, RAF Methwold, whilst in the process of re-equipping with the Vickers Wellington.

The memoirs of a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot recount his first operation with the Squadron, with Stirlings taxiing "ponderously" along a: "...perimeter track [which] ran within a hundred yards of Chedburgh's pub, before which the locals .

At a time when Stirling losses led to the aircraft being withdrawn from bombing Germany the squadron transferred to RAF Downham Market in December 1943.

They used the jamming system codenamed "Airborne Cigar" (ABC) to block German night fighter communications.

[12] After the war ended, the squadron reformed at RAF Aldergrove on 1 March 1948 and operated the Handley Page Halifax GR.6 until 18 October 1948.

Leonard Trent, a Victoria Cross winner, was the first CO of the Valiant squadron, and he was succeeded by future Chief of the Air Staff and Marshal of the RAF Michael Beetham.

214 Squadron's real-life WWII bomber operations and crews at RAF Stradishall formed the basis for the 1948 and 1949 BBC Radio drama "I Shan't Be Home To Dinner",[19] written by BBC Radio actress Freda Falconer,[20] widow of 214 Squadron Observer Flt/Lt Keith Falconer D.F.C.

She drew on her background to spearhead the drive to keep morale high on the base with her work organising concert parties and entertainment.

Once Russia entered the war, No 214 Squadron would play its part in Churchill's urgent drive to prove that the RAF could take the fight as far as Berlin itself.

himself flew Vickers Wellington R1784 on the 8th September 1941 mission with a hand-picked volunteer crew: Sgt Leonard Tyne Chapman (Wireless Operator / Air Gunner), Sqn/Ldr William Davies, Fg/Off William Esplen,[22] (Wireless Operator / Air Gunner), Flt/Lt Keith James Falconer (Observer) and Sgt Arthur Norman Page.

Also of note, the mission's Wireless Operator William Esplen was a successful amateur racing driver and son of the founder of the famous Ercol furniture design company.

[24] Freda Falconer told their story, with names changed, in the first version of the play broadcast as a BBC Radio Wednesday Matinee in 1948.

The Radio Times reported an unusually powerful public response, with a wave of letters pouring in to the BBC after the broadcast from listeners moved by its poignant and wholly authentic depiction of a widely shared experience.