RCAF 409 Squadron Crossbow & Cloak, circa 1955

409 Tactical Fighter Squadron (French: ) is a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The squadron operates the

CF-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet (official military designation CF-188) is a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) variant of the American McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft. In 1980, the F/A-18 was selected as the winner of the New ...

from CFB Cold Lake in Alberta, Canada.

History

The cross-bow in front of the dark cloak represents a weapon used under cover of darkness to denote the squadron's original role as a night fighter squadron. The badge was officially approved in March 1944.

Second World War

No. 409 Nighthawk Squadron was formed at RAF Digby in June 1941 for night operations with Boulton-Paul Defiants, moving in July to

RAF Coleby Grange Royal Air Force Coleby Grange or more simply RAF Coleby Grange was a Royal Air Force satellite station situated alongside the western edge of the A15 on open heathland between the villages of Coleby and Nocton Heath and lying due south of the ...

, where, in August, Beaufighter IIf aircraft arrived, allowing detachments to be maintained elsewhere. Two victories were claimed during the early days of the squadron's existence, but in June 1942 Beaufighter Mark VI aircraft were received, and a greater degree of success was achieved. In February 1943 a move was made to Acklington, with detachments maintained in at least four other locations. In December a return to Coleby Grange was made, with the various detachments continuing their separate existences. Little was seen during the year, but in March 1944 the squadron moved to Hunsdon, converting to the Mosquito Mk XII and joined No. 85 Group of the

Second Tactical Air Force The RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force (RAF) during and after the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forces, ...

. Intruder and offensive patrols commenced, and much action was seen over the Normandy beachhead in June; 11 victories were claimed during this month. After some action against V-1 Flying Bombs, operations over Europe recommenced, and late in August the unit moved to Carpiquet in France, the first night fighters to be based on the mainland. By mid-October, the squadron had settled in the Lille area, where it was to remain until April 1945. On 19 April, a move was made to the Rhine in Germany, and from here the unit was able to claim six victories in a single night. Shortly after this the war ended with the total victories at claimed. The squadron's code letters during this period were KP.

Cold War

Re-established at

RCAF Station Comox Canadian Forces Base Comox , commonly referred to as CFB Comox or 19 Wing, is a Canadian Forces Base located north northeast of Comox, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It is primarily operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air F ...

on 1 November 1954 providing air defence for Canada's west coast as part of NORAD. Initially equipped with the Canadian designed Avro CF-100 they converted to the CF-101 Voodoo in 1962. The squadron transferred to CFB Cold Lake in 1984 to convert to the CF-18 and then deployed to

CFB Baden-Soellingen CFB may refer to: * College football * Canadian Forces base, military installation of the Canadian forces * Caminho de Ferro de Benguela, railway in Angola * Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District * Cipher feedback, a block cipher mod ...

as part of Canada's NATO commitment. The squadron was then disbanded in 1991 with the withdrawal of Canadian Forces from Europe.

Operations

The squadron was briefly reformed back at Comox as a Combat Support Squadron (without aircraft) but was disbanded again. 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron was re-formed from the consolidation of

416 __NOTOC__ Year 416 ( CDXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Palladius (or, less frequently, year 1169 ...

and 441 Tactical Fighter Squadrons on 6 July 2006 at CFB Cold Lake.

Battle honours

* Defence of Britain 1941–44 * Fortress Europe 1942–44 * Normandy 1944 * France and Germany 1944–45 * Rhine 1945

Aircraft

* Boulton Paul Defiant *

Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...

* Avro CF-100 Canuck * Canadair (Lockheed) CT-33 Silver Star * McDonnell Douglas CF-101 Voodoo * McDonnell Douglas

References

External links

* {{RCAF Squadrons Canadian Forces aircraft squadrons Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons