Second World War No. 410 Squadron was formed at
RAF Ayr, near
Prestwick, Scotland in June 1941, as a Royal Canadian Air Force "
Article XV squadron", under
Royal Air Force operational control. It was the third RCAF night fighter squadron to be formed and was equipped with the
Boulton Paul Defiant. although
No. 409 Squadron RCAF can now make a similar claim, on the basis that there were many victories quickly counted up during 1944 and 1945. On 3 November 1944 the Squadron moved to RAF
Amiens-Glisy in northern France. Two months later, the squadron was relocated to RAF Lille-Vendeville in northern France, the first movement of the squadron in 1945.
Initial operations The first official sortie occurred on the night of 4 June 1942, when twelve crews from No. 410 Squadron took off in Beaufighters, but the two scrambles that occurred were uneventful. The first German contact occurred on the night of 6/7 September 1942, when a Beaufighter II from
RAF Scorton flown by P/O R.R. Ferguson and P/O D. Creed (navigator), intercepted a Luftwaffe
Ju 88. The Beaufighter was guided to the Ju 88 approximately northeast of
Whitby on the
Yorkshire coast. The attack damaged the Ju 88, but did not destroy it. Since the aircraft was not destroyed, this did not count as the squadron's first outright victory. That came on 22 January 1943, when
Flight Sergeant B.M. Haight and
Sergeant T. Kipling (RAF, observer), flying a
Mosquito II from
RAF Acklington, were credited with a
Dornier Do 217, which was destroyed near
Hartlepool. This was made possible because of "night readiness", the ability to fly at a moment's notice at night. By the end of the war, victories had been claimed. A further five patrols were flown to help cover the 4,000 ships that were part of
Operation Neptune. On 7 June two of the aircraft were fired upon by friendly
Lancaster bombers, who assumed they were hostile. However, No. 410 Squadron claimed its first kill when
Flying Officers A. Mcleod and Bob Snowdon destroyed a
Junkers Ju 188 bomber. On 12 June the squadron claimed multiple bomber kills. For several days following D-Day, the squadron flew patrols and received credits for many kills. In one instance, Warrant Officer (W/O) W.F. Price and P/O J.G. Costello shot down two
Dornier Do 217 bombers in the space of twenty minutes. While on patrol from Brussels to Antwerp and Rotterdam they saw a bright orange light directly ahead and seemingly at their own altitude, . At first glance, Currie paid no attention to it, taking it for a bright star. Suddenly, Currie said: "It began to climb – hell it climbed!" On the evening of 18 December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, Edinger made contact with a Ju 87, which he then fired upon. His navigator, C.L. Vaessen, confirmed the kill, stating that the aircraft had been hit in the starboard engine and had caught fire. The Ju 87 crashed into trees and was engulfed in flames. After having returned from working at the Training Command, he claimed another Ju 188 on 10/11 April 1945. He claimed his final kills on 21/22 April 1945 by downing two Ju 88s near Ferrbellen. For several days the airfield had been fogbound and when the sky cleared somewhat in the afternoon of 21 December, S/L Fulton, "B" Flight commander, took off for England in the squadron's
Airspeed Oxford aircraft. With him were three officers and two airmen, all going on leave. Near Wrotham,
Kent, the aircraft crashed and only one of its occupants survived. Killed with S/L Fulton were his navigator F/O A.R. Ayton (RAF), who had accompanied him on posting to the Cougars in October, F/L F.G. Thomson, DFC (RAF), who had arrived late in November to begin a second tour, and LACs E. Wahlers and R. Seefried. F/O W. Rumbold, another RAF navigator, was seriously injured; he had been with the Squadron for two months. At least 12 members of the squadron were decorated during the war, with the award of 11
Distinguished Flying Crosses (DFC) and one
bar to the DFC, as well as a
Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM). The first DFCs went to Acting
Flight Lieutenant Martin Anthony Cybulski and
Flying Officer Harold Herbert Ladbrook on 9 November 1943 The citation does not mention that they had to return to base on a single engine, and with other damage to the aircraft. This was quickly followed by Flying Officers Rayne Dennis Schultz and Vernon Albert Williams on 14 January 1944. Again, the citation does not mention the severe damage to their aircraft. At the close of an action with their third
Do 217, which the combat report describes as: "a long duel with the enemy pilot showing a high degree of airmanship," they were hit by return fire, including a cannon shell that destroyed much of the instrument panel and which narrowly missed the pilot. The starboard engine almost died, then recovered, but then the port engine caught fire. They managed to return to
RAF Bradwell with only the starboard engine working, landing at 19:45 on 10 December 1943. Sergeant James Norman was awarded the DFM on 26 September 1944.
Squadron Leader James Dean Somerville and F/O George Douglas Robinson were awarded the DFC on 20 October 1944. F/L Charles Emanuel Edinger and F/O Charles Leo Vaessen were awarded the DFC on 5 December of the same year, for destroying two
Junkers Ju 188s, one
Junkers Ju 88 and one unidentified German aircraft between June and October. They subsequently claimed one further Ju 88 and one
Junkers Ju 87 in December. Flight Lieutenants Ben Erwin Plumer and William Warren Hargrove received the DFC on 15 December 1944 for shooting down a
Messerschmitt Bf 110 on 6 October: F/O Dennis George Tongue was awarded the DFC on 29 December 1944, and a
bar to his DFC on 2 March 1945. F/O Tongue was a member of the RAF, had been commissioned from sergeant and promoted to flying officer. On the night he won the bar to his DFC, on 25 November 1944, his pilot was A. A. Harrington of the
United States Army Air Forces. They destroyed three
Junkers Ju 88s, their own Mosquito having been hit by debris from the second Ju 88, and during the fight that led to the downing of the third, Tongue was also having to keep track of a further Ju 88 which was endeavouring to attack their aircraft. F/O Donald Murdo Mackenzie was awarded the DFC on 27 February 1945, having destroyed a Ju 88 on 30 July 1944, and then two more in a single sortie on 24 December.
1946–1964 No. 410 Squadron was reactivated on 1 December 1946 as an
air defence squadron flying
de Havilland Vampire F.3 aircraft, and was re-formed from a defence role into that of a fighter role at
St Hubert (Montreal), Quebec on 1 December 1948. From May 1949 to August 1951, the
Blue Devils aerobatics team formed, to demonstrate the abilities of the new Vampire aircraft at formation flying. The squadron later converted to
Canadair Sabres and was deployed to Europe, flying from
RCAF Station North Luffenham in the UK, and then at
RCAF Station Marville (No. 1 (Fighter) Wing) in France. The squadron had been the first regular force fighter unit to fly the Vampire aircraft and was the first to fly the Sabre and the first to join No. 1 (Fighter) Wing of
No. 1 Air Division Europe. When No. 445 All Weather (Fighter) [AW(F)] Squadron arrived from Canada, however, No. 410 Squadron was deactivated at Marville on 1 October 1956 and reactivated as an all-weather fighter squadron at
Uplands (Ottawa), Ontario on 1 November of that year, flying
Avro Canada CF-100s. When CF-100s were removed from front-line service in 1961, the
CF-101 Voodoo interceptor was introduced for
North American air defence. No. 410 Squadron converted to these aircraft and the squadron continued to fly Voodoos until defence cuts led to the squadron being deactivated on 31 March 1964.
1968 to the present-day In 1968, No. 3 OTU (Operating Training Unit) at
CFB Bagotville, tasked with training pilots and navigators for the three operational RCAF Voodoo squadrons, was later renamed No. 410 Squadron. No. 410 Squadron moved to
Cold Lake, Alberta in 1982, changing aircraft to become the training unit for Canada's new
CF-18 Hornet aircraft. == Aircraft ==