No. 409 Squadron RCAF

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409 Knight Hawk Squadron
Squadron badge
Information
Role	Fighter
Aircraft flown	CF-18 Hornet
Wing	4 Wing Cold Lake
Base	CFB Cold Lake
Motto	MEDIA NOX MERIDIES NOSTER (Midnight is our noon)
Call Sign
History
Date founded	June, 1941
Badge	The crossbow in front of a dark cloak indicates the unit's function as a night fighter squadron.
Notable Battle Honours	Defence of Britain 1941-44, Fortress Europe 1942-44, France and Germany 1944-45,Normandy 1944, Rhine
Previous Designation

The 409 Nighthawk Squadron is an air force unit of the Canadian Forces. Operating the CF-18 Hornet at CFB Cold Lake.

1 History
2 Badge
3 Motto
4 Battle Honours
5 Aircraft
6 Badges
7 References
8 External links

[edit] History

Formed in England on June 17, 1941 as a dedicated night fighter squadron. Equipped with the Boulton Paul Defiant and later the de Havilland Mosquito it was disbanded on July 1, 1945.

CF-101 Voodoo 101060 from 409 "Nighthawk" Squadron, CFB Comox on the ramp at CFB Moose Jaw in the spring of 1982

409 Nighthawk Squadron, F-18 bearing tail art of reactivated 409 Squadron

Re-established at RCAF Station Comox on November 1, 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. The squadron transferred to CFB Cold Lake in 1984 to convert to the CF-18 and then deployed to CFB Baden-Soellingen as part of Canada's NATO commitment. The squadron was then disbanded in 1991 with the withdrawal of Canadian Forces from Europe.

The squadron was briefly reformed back at Comox as a Combat Support Squadron (without aircraft) but was disbanded again.

409 Tactical Fighter Squadron has been re-formed from the consolidation of 416 and 441 Tactical Fighter Squadrons on July 6th 2006 at CFB Cold Lake.

[edit] Badge

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.