Second World War No. 419 Bomber Squadron formed at
RAF Mildenhall, England in 1941 as part of No. 3 Group,
Bomber Command. The squadron moved to
RAF Middleton St. George when it became a constituent of
6 Group, Bomber Command, and remained in England until 1945. The squadron operated
Vickers Wellington, then
Handley Page Halifax and finally
Avro Lancaster bombers during this period. It was the third RCAF bomber unit to be formed in England. It started operations in January 1942, converting almost immediately to Wellington Mk IIIs and moving north to
Leeming as part of the new 6 Group in August 1942. Here in November it was re-equipped with Halifax Mk IIs, which it flew for the next 18 months on the night offensive against Germany. After three quick moves it settled at Middleton St. George in November and stayed there for the rest of its service in Bomber Command. In April 1944 the squadron began to convert to
Avro Lancasters, using the Mk X which was produced in Canada and flown across the Atlantic. The squadron remained continuously on the offensive until 25 April 1945, when it flew its last sortie. Squadron personnel flew a total of 4,325 operational sorties during the war from
Mannheim to
Nuremberg, Milan to
Berlin and
Munich to
Hanover, inflicting heavy damage on the enemy. As a result of its wartime record, 419 Squadron became one of the most decorated units under the RCAF during the war. Over a span of roughly three-and-a-quarter years it logged 400 operational missions (342 bombing missions, 53 mining excursions, 3 leaflet raids and 1 "spoof") involving 4,325 sorties. One hundred and twenty nine aircraft were lost on these operations. Between January 1943 to March 1944, 419 Squadron was involved in over 200 sorties involving 2400 crewing operations losing 59 aircraft, a rate of one in every 40. 415 men were either killed or taken
POW during those 15 months, averaging 4 crews a month. The average crew survival rate was between 2 and 3 months when about 20 missions would be flown. In general mining operations were relatively safer missions. In particular the attacks on German cities intensified from early October when more than 100 crews were regularly dispatched to bomb
Frankfurt,
Mannheim, Berlin,
Magdeburg, Leipzig and
Nuremberg. During March 1944 there was much mining as described earlier, but this was the precursor to 6 Group's 118-crew attack on Nuremberg at the end of the month when it was to suffer its worst loss of thirteen aircraft in a single sortie. It has not been possible to trace all of 419's downed aircraft (for example Sergeant Robert Whitfield's Halifax Mk. II JD-258 coded VR-K borrowed from 419 Squadron for an operation to Wuppertal on 24/25 June 1943 was intercepted by a night fighter,
Hans-Dieter Frank, and crashed near Eindhoven killing the crew which included two RCAF personnel). so the statistics will be a little worse than described above. No. 419 Squadron was, like other squadrons in 6 Group, heavily involved in much activity during this month, probably the most active in the run up to the June landings. Rail-yards were successfully attacked at
Trappes (6/7),
Le Mans (13/14),
Amiens (16/17),
Laon (23/24), Aulnoye (25/26),
Courtrai (26/27) and
Vaires-sur-Marne (29/30) as well as mining operations in the
Gironde Estuary (3/4),
Brest (4/5),
Lorient, Brest,
St Nazaire, Terchelling Islands (11/12),
Heligoland (18/19 and 30/31) and
Kiel Bay (22/23). An aircraft factory at Meulan Les Mureaux was bombed on 2/3 March. On the 17th june of 1944 a Lancaster bomber of the 419 squadron crashed in
Zeist after being shot down returning from its mission. Five of the seven crew members were killed. April 2025 memorial stones were placed in memory of the crew. It flew back to Canada in June 1945 and was disbanded at
Yarmouth Airport in
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, on 5 September 1945.
Postwar 419 was re-formed on 15 March 1955 as
419 All-Weather Fighter Squadron, and moved to the
NATO Air Division base at
Baden-Soellingen, Germany shortly thereafter. The squadron was equipped with the
Avro CF-100 Canuck. 419 was disbanded 31 December 1962. The unit was re-formed at
CFB Cold Lake on 2 May 1975 as
419 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron. It was disbanded in 1995 when the
CF-5 aircraft were retired. The squadron was re-formed again at
4 Wing Cold Lake on 23 July 2000 to conduct advanced lead-in fighter training for Canadian and NATO pilots using nine
CT-155 Hawk aircraft. 419 Squadron was placed on hiatus on 8 March 2024, as the RCAF transferred to an interim lead-in fighter training program with the
Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program at
Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, and other fighter lead-in training programs in Finland and at Italy’s
International Flight Training School. This hiatus marked the end of RCAF operation of the CT-155 Hawk. The RCAF intends to reactivate 419 Squadron in the early 2030s with a new future fifth-generation trainer aircraft. == Notable members ==