No. 4 Squadron RCAF

No. 4 Squadron RCAF
Active	1925-1945
Country	Canada
Branch	Royal Canadian Air Force
Role	Bomber Reconnaissance
Part of	RCAF Western Air Command
Battle honours	Pacific Coast 1941-1945[1]
Disbanded	7 August 1945

No. 4 (Bomber Reconnaissance) Squadron was a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron that was active during the Second World War. It was formed on 17 January 1933 at RCAF Station Jericho Beach and flew civil operations until 1939. During the war it was primarily used in an anti-submarine role with Western Air Command and was based at Tofino, British Columbia. The squadron flew the Blackburn Shark, Supermarine Stranraer, Consolidated Canso and Consolidated Catalina before disbanding on 7 August 1945.^[2]

Tofino Bomber Crash

Feb. 8, 1945, Flight 11007 (a Consolidated Canso) successfully flew from Coal Harbour Seaplane Base to the RCAF Air Station in Tofino where they stopped for supplies before departing on a routine anti-submarine night patrol of the coastline. They were cleared for take-off at 2300 hours and had just cleared the end of the runway when the port engine quit cold. The flight carried 12 personnel, 2,800 litres of fuel and four 115.5 kg depth charges. During a 180-degree turn, in an attempt to return to the airfield, the aircraft started skimming trees on a plateau rising up into a hill. Fearing a direct impact into the side of the hill, pilot-first officer Ronnie J. Scholes put the plane into a full stall and crash landed at the bottom of a densely treed hillside. All on board survived with only minor injuries. Later, four RCAF personnel returned to the crash site to retrieve the radio and machine guns, destroy the secret radar gear and detonate the depth charges.^[3][4][5]

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