418 Search and Rescue Operational Training Squadron
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418 Search and Rescue Operational Training Squadron | |
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Branch | ![]() |
Type | 1941–45 Intruder 1946–94 Tactical bomber/transport 2019– Search & rescue/transport |
Part of | (1941–45) RCAF Article XV squadrons, attached to the RAF for operational purposes |
Motto(s) | Piyautailili (Inuktitut: "Defend even unto death") |
Battle honours | Defence of Britain 1944, Fortress Europe 1942–44, France & Germany 1944–45, Normandy 1944, Rhine 1945 |
418 (City of Edmonton) Search and Rescue Operational Training Squadron is a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force, formed during World War II.
History[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/RCAF_Boston_at_RAF_Bradwell_Bay_WWII_CH_7211.jpg/220px-RCAF_Boston_at_RAF_Bradwell_Bay_WWII_CH_7211.jpg)
418 Squadron RCAF was Canada's highest-scoring squadron in World War II, in terms of both air-to-air and air-to-ground kills, and in terms of both day and night operations. The Squadron's most active period was 1944, when assigned to Intruder and Ranger sorties across occupied Europe.
These sorties, made at low level to escape radar detection, took 418 Squadron crews into the heart of enemy territory, there to wreak havoc among departing or returning Luftwaffe night-fighter crews (Intruder sorties), or to shoot up enemy airfields, or indeed anything else of military value, in Ranger sorties.
As an Intruder squadron, 418 Squadron's aircraft did not carry radar sets - even at night targets had to be found, identified, lined up, and attacked all with the naked eye. The squadron's success speaks volumes of the skill of its crews that it achieved such success under these conditions.
A few months after the war, the squadron was recalled up and deployed to duty now flying the B-25 Mitchell in the tactical bomber role from the Edmonton Municipal Airport. At the time the majority of Canada's air defence was made up of reservists and 418 was no exception. Students, businessmen, and professionals in the Edmonton area gave up their spare time to protect Canada's north. By 1958, defence cuts reduced the squadron's activities to a transport role flying the Single Otter and C-45 Expeditor from RCAF Station Namao. Its duties ranged from aid to the civil power to aerial re-supply.
Upon unification of the forces the squadron converted to the DeHavilland Twin Otter. With the advent of the Twin Otter, the Squadron's role was redefined as search and rescue and light tactical transport. On the squadron's disbandment in 1994, the CC-138 Twin Otters were shifted to 440 Transport Squadron out of Yellowknife, NWT.
There is currently a presence in the Alberta Aviation Museum on Kingsway Avenue in Edmonton, Alberta.
Squadron re-establishment[]
418 Squadron was reformed on March 13, 2019,[1] with Lieutenant-Colonel Jeffers as commanding officer. The unit is based at 19 Wing Comox, as 418 Search and Rescue Operational Training Squadron, training aircrew and maintenance personnel on the CC-295, using simulators and aircraft.[2]
References[]
- ^ Government of Canada, National Defence (11 July 2019). "News Article | 418 Squadron flies again". www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
- ^ Government of Canada, National Defence (13 December 2018). "News Article | Fixed-wing search and rescue procurement project". www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to 418 Squadron RCAF. |
- Canadian Article XV squadrons of World War II
- Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons
- Military units and formations established in the 1940s
- Military units and formations established in 2019