617 Squadron, "The Dambusters", with 34 Lancasters and two Mosquitoes, the latter being used for low-level target marking.

617 Squadron operated from the airfield until the end of hostilities, pioneering the use of ultra-heavy bombs - the 12,000lb Tallboy and 22,000lb Grand Slam - both of which were used on special targets in operations from the airfield.

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The squadron was formed under great secrecy at RAF Scampton during the Second World War on 21 March 1943 on Avro Lancaster heavy bombers.[6] It included Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force and Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel and was formed for the specific task of attacking three major dams that contributed water and power to the Ruhr industrial region in Germany: the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe. The plan was given the codename Operation Chastise and carried out on 17 May 1943. The squadron had to develop the tactics to deploy Barnes Wallis's "Bouncing bomb", and undertook some of its training over the dams of the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, as the towers on the dam walls were similar to those to be found on some of the target dams in Germany.