405 Maritime Patrol Squadron

405 Long Range Patrol Squadron
Active April 1941 – September 1945
April 1947–present
Country  Canada
Branch Royal Canadian Air Force
Role Long range patrol
Based at CFB Greenwood, Gransden Lodge Airfield
Motto(s) Ducimus ("We Lead")
Battle honours Fortress Europe 1941–44
France & Germany Biscay Ports 1941–45
Ruhr 1941–45
Berlin 1941
German Ports 1941–45
Normandy 1944
Walcheren Rhine Biscay 1942–43
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry An eagle's head erased, facing to the sinister and holding in the beak a sprig of maple.
Aircraft flown
Bomber Wellington
Halifax
Lancaster
Patrol C-45 Expeditor
CP-127 (P2V-7) Neptune
CP-107 Argus
CP-140 Aurora

405 Long Range Patrol Squadron is a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) within the Canadian Forces, initially formed as No. 405 Squadron RCAF during the Second World War.

Service history

World War II

Armourers check over a mixed bomb load of three 1,000-lb MC bombs and small bomb containers (SBCs) filled with 30-lb incendiary bombs, loaded into the bomb-bay and wing cells of a Handley Page Halifax Mark II of 405 Squadron RCAF at RAF Pocklington, England
405 Squadron Halifax "Ruhr Valley Express" at RAF Pocklington. This aircraft was lost returning from a raid on Flensburg in October 1942

No. 405 Squadron RCAF was formed at Driffield, Yorkshire, on 23 April 1941 as an Article XV squadron and equipped with the Vickers Wellington bomber. It flew the RCAF's first bombing operation ten weeks later on 12/13 June, attacking the railway marshalling yards at Schwerte. It converted to the Handley Page Halifax in April 1942, taking part in the historic 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne on the night of 30/31 May 1942.[1]

In late October 1942, the squadron was loaned to Coastal Command to fly anti-submarine patrols in the Bay of Biscay at the time of the North African landings.[1]

Returning to Bomber Command at the beginning of March 1943, the squadron flew with No. 6 Group RCAF for short time before being selected for the elite No. 8 (Pathfinder) Group based at Gransden Lodge Airfield, with which it served until the end of the war. Through the last 20 months of the bomber offensive the squadron was equipped with the Avro Lancaster.

The squadron's last operational mission took place on 25 April 1945 when nine Lancasters bombed the Berghof, and four aircraft bombed enemy gun batteries on island of Wangerooge. The squadron was disbanded on 5 September 1945.[1]

Post war

The squadron was reformed on 1 April 1947 as No. 405 Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron at RCAF Station Greenwood, and was later redesignated No. 405 Maritime Reconnaissance Squadron and then No. 405 Maritime Patrol Squadron.[2]

Lancaster of 405 Squadron at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida in 1953.

In April 1950, as a Maritime Patrol Squadron, the squadron was equipped with modified Mark X Lancasters. These were replaced in mid-1955 by the P2V7 Neptune giving the squadron a much greater anti-submarine capability.[3]

In April 1958 the squadron was given the distinction of being the first to fly the Canadian-built CP-107 Argus. The squadron made its last flight in the Argus on 10 November 1980 before introducing the CP-140 Aurora.[3]

Current operations

Though 405 Squadron's primary combat functions are anti-submarine (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASUW), most of its time is spent fulfilling a variety of non-combat roles. These include search and rescue, counter-drug operations with the RCMP, and anti-pollution and fisheries patrols.[4]

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 "No. 405 Squadron , Canadian Air Force". rcaf.com. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  2. ↑ "RCAF Squadrons – 400 Series". airforce.forces.gc.ca. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  3. 1 2 "405 Squadron – History". airforce.forces.gc.ca. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  4. ↑ "405 Squadron – General Information". airforce.forces.gc.ca. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
Bibliography
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