No. 106 Squadron RAF No 106 started replacing them with Lancasters (but it did not become converted completely to Lancasters before some of the squadron's Manchesters had participated in the 1,000-bomber raids on Cologne, Essen and Bremen). In October it contributed 10 Lancasters to No. 5 Group's low-level epic dusk raid ("Operation Robinson") on Le Creusot and two more (one of them piloted by Wing Commander Guy Gibson who was then No 106's CO) to the subsidiary raid on Montchanin. In 1943 it took part in the first "shuttle-bombing" raids (when the targets were Friedrichshafen and Spezia) and the famous attack on Peenemünde. Among
John Verdun Newton Force. He was posted to the United Kingdom for operational training with RAF Bomber Command. For several months, Newton trained for night bombing with four-engined heavy bombers at No. 11 OTU (RAF Oakley, Buckinghamshire). In late October 1943, Newton was promoted to Flight Lieutenant and posted to No. 90 Squadron RAF, at RAF Tuddenham in Suffolk. He captained Short Stirlings during raids on Germany, including raids on Kassel, Frankfurt and Bremen. His commanding officer at 90 Sqn, Wing Commander J. H. Giles, described Newton as: "An above average Officer who is an excellent leader of men." In a newspaper interview