No. 421 Squadron RCAF was a unit of the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

. It was the last RCAF fighter squadron to be formed in the UK during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Establishment

Initially established at

RAF Digby Royal Air Force Digby otherwise known as RAF Digby is a Royal Air Force station located near Scopwick and south east of Lincoln, in Lincolnshire, England. The station is home to the tri-service Joint Service Signals Organisation, part of the J ...

in April 1942 with Supermarine Spitfire Mk VA, the squadron moving to

RAF Fairwood Common Royal Air Force Fairwood Common or more simply RAF Fairwood Common is a former Royal Air Force Sector station located at Fairwood Common on the Gower Peninsula to the west of Swansea. It is now the location of Swansea Airport. History RAF Fa ...

in May and received Spitfire Mk VB. The squadron's motto was ''Bellicum cecinere'' ("They have sounded the war trumpet"). Its badge was, in front of two tomahawks in saltire, a Red Indian warrior.

Second World War

Supermarine Spit IX NH188 421 Sq Rock 260371 edited-2

During 1942 the squadron was under 10 Group and flew its mission from

RAF Warmwell Royal Air Force Warmwell or more simply RAF Warmwell is a former Royal Air Force station near Warmwell in Dorset, England from 1937 to 1946, located about 5 miles east-southeast of Dorchester; 100 miles southwest of London. During the Second W ...

, RAF Bolt Head, RAF Ibsley,

RAF Zeals Royal Air Force Zeals or more simply RAF Zeals is a former Royal Air Force station in Wiltshire, sited to the north of the village of Zeals, next to the village of Stourton and the Stourhead estate. History The station was in operation fro ...

and

RAF Charmy Down RAF Charmy Down is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Somerset, England, approximately north-northeast of Bath and west of London. Opened in 1941, it was used initially by the RAF and from 1943 by the United States Army Air Forces, prim ...

. In January 1943 the squadron joined the 127 (Canadian) Wing and moved to

Redhill Aerodrome Redhill Aerodrome is an operational general aviation aerodrome located south-east of Redhill, Surrey, England, in green belt land. Redhill Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P421) that allows flights for the public transport of ...

airfield. Late in spring of 1943 the squadron received Spitfire Mk IX and flew under the command of Wing Commander Johnnie Johnson. In preparation for the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

the 127 Wing was assigned to

RAF 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, ...

. On June 16 the squadron was along with the other squadrons of 127 Wing the first to be moved to

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

and flew air superiority missions. After the allied breakout and quick advance towards the

Reich ''Reich'' (; ) is a German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word "realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emperor") and ' (lit ...

421 squadron was based in

Evere Evere (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium). On 1 January 2006, the municipality had a total population of 33,462. The total area is which gives a population density of . In common with all of Brussels' m ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

by October 1944. During December 1944 the squadron received Spitfire XVI. In 1945 the unit participated in the liberation of the Netherlands, before moving into Germany. At the end of the war the unit had achieved over 90 aerial victories.

Postwar

Having been disbanded shortly after the war the squadron was re-activated on 15 September 1949 at

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

flying

Vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deat ...

aircraft from bases in the UK and later flying

Canadair Sabre The Canadair Sabre is a jet fighter aircraft built by Canadair under licence from North American Aviation. A variant of the North American F-86 Sabre, it was produced until 1958 and used primarily by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) unti ...

s from

Grostenquin Grostenquin (; german: Großtänchen; Lorraine Franconian: ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France, situated between Metz and Strasbourg. Localities of the commune: Béning, Bertring, Hingsange, Linstrof ...

, France. In 1962 it was equipped with CF-104 Starfighters and in 1967 the squadron moved to

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...

becoming part of 1 Air Division RCAF (later renamed 1 Canadian Air Group) based at

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 ...

, West Germany. During the early 1980s it was equipped with CF-18 Hornets. At the end of the Cold War the squadron was disbanded and its aircraft and personnel returned to Canada.

References

External links

{{RCAF Squadrons Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons Canadian Article XV squadrons of World War II Military units and formations established in 1942