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
Wing leader given responsibility for coordinating the operations of several squadrons—originally three, later as many as five—in combat. Previously, such formations were led by the most senior or experienced commander of the squadrons involved. The "Big Wing" had been conceived as a defensive measure against German air raids during the Battle of Britain in 1940, when Squadron Leader Douglas Bader led the prototypical Duxford Wing in combat, though the distinct "wing leader" position had not yet been devised. In December 1940, RAF Fighter Command began preparing for offensive fighter sweeps over France, using massed formations under the tactical command of wing leaders,