No. 421 Squadron RCAF

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No. 421 (Red Indian) Squadron RCAF

Active	9 April 1942 to 1945 15 September 1949 to 31 August 1992
Country	Canada
Branch	Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Artillery
Type	Article XV squadron
Part of	unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force,
Nickname(s)	Red Indian
Motto(s)	Bellicum Cecinere
Battle honours	Defence of Britain 1942-43, Fortress Europe 1942-44, France and Germany 1944-45, Normandy 1944 Arnhem Rhine
Aircraft flown
Fighter	Supermarine Spitfire de Havilland Vampire Canadair Sabre Canadair CF-104 Starfighter McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet

No. 421 Squadron RCAF was a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force. It was the last RCAF fighter squadron to be formed in the UK during World War II.

Establishment

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Initially established at RAF Digby in April 1942 with Supermarine Spitfire Mk VA, the squadron moving to RAF Fairwood Common in May and received Spitfire Mk VB.

The squadron's motto was Bellicum cecinere ("They have sounded the war trumpet").^[1] Its badge was, in front of two tomahawks in saltire, a Red Indian warrior.

Second World War

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During 1942 the squadron was under 10 Group and flew its mission from RAF Warmwell, RAF Fairwood Common, RAF Bolt Head, RAF Ibsley, RAF Angle, RAF Zeals and RAF Charmy Down.^[2] In January 1943 the squadron joined the 127 (Canadian) Wing and moved to Redhill Aerodrome airfield. Late in spring of 1943 the squadron received Spitfire Mk IX and flew under the command of Wing Commander Johnnie Johnson.^[3]

In preparation for the Normandy landings the 127 Wing was assigned to RAF Second Tactical Air Force. On June 16 the squadron was along with the other squadrons of 127 Wing the first to be moved to Normandy and flew air superiority missions. After the allied breakout and quick advance towards the Reich 421 squadron was based in Evere in Belgium by October 1944. During December 1944 the squadron received Spitfire XVI. In 1945 the unit participated in the liberation of the Netherlands, before moving into Germany. At the end of the war the unit had achieved over 90 aerial victories.

Postwar

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421 Squadron Sabres at RCAF Station Grostenquin France, 1957

Having been disbanded shortly after the war the squadron was re-activated on 15 September 1949 at Chatham flying Vampire aircraft from bases in the UK and later flying Canadair Sabres from Grostenquin, France. In 1962 it was equipped with CF-104 Starfighters and in 1967 the squadron moved to Zweibrücken becoming part of 1 Air Division RCAF (later renamed 1 Canadian Air Group) based at CFB Baden-Soellingen, West Germany. During the early 1980s it was equipped with CF-18 Hornets. At the end of the Cold War the squadron was disbanded and its aircraft and personnel returned to Canada.^[4]

References

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Citations

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^ "Bellicum cecinere". TERMIUM Plus® The Government of Canada’s terminology and linguistic data bank. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
^ Jefford 2001, p. 92.
^ "Canadian and American Squadrons at Headcorn Airfield". BBC. 8 June 2004. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
^ "No. 421 Squadron , Canadian Air Force". Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2012.

Bibliography

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Jefford, C.G. RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.

External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to 421 Squadron RCAF.

v t e Royal Canadian Air Force units
Wings	1 Wing Kingston 2 Wing Bagotville 3 Wing Bagotville 4 Wing Cold Lake 5 Wing Goose Bay 8 Wing Trenton 9 Wing Gander 12 Wing Shearwater 14 Wing Greenwood 15 Wing Moose Jaw 16 Wing Borden 17 Wing Winnipeg 19 Wing Comox 22 Wing North Bay
Squadrons	21 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron 42 Radar Squadron 51 Aerospace Control and Warning Operational Training Squadron 103 Search and Rescue Squadron 400 Tactical Helicopter Squadron 401 Tactical Fighter Squadron 402 Squadron 403 Helicopter Operational Training Squadron 404 Long Range Patrol and Training Squadron 405 Long Range Patrol Squadron 406 Maritime Operational Training Squadron 407 Long Range Patrol Squadron 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron 410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron 412 Transport Squadron 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron 414 Electronic Warfare Support Squadron 415 Long Range Patrol Force Development Squadron 417 Combat Support Squadron 423 Maritime Helicopter Squadron 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron 426 Transport Training Squadron 429 Transport Squadron 430 Tactical Helicopter Squadron 433 Tactical Fighter Squadron 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron 436 Transport Squadron 437 Transport Squadron 438 Tactical Helicopter Squadron 439 Combat Support Squadron 440 Transport Squadron 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron 444 Combat Support Squadron 450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron
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Royal Canadian Air Force

List of aircraft

Wings: 1 Wing Kingston; 3 Wing Bagotville; 4 Wing Cold Lake; 5 Wing Goose Bay; 8 Wing Trenton; 9 Wing Gander; 12 Wing Shearwater; 14 Wing Greenwood; 15 Wing Moose Jaw; 16 Wing Borden; 17 Wing Winnipeg; 19 Wing Comox; 22 Wing North Bay
List of Squadrons

Training: Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering; Royal Canadian Air Force Academy

History: Canadian Aviation Corps (1914–1915); Canadian Air Force (1918–1920); Canadian Air Force (1920–1924); Royal Canadian Air Force (1924–1968); Canadian Forces Air Command (1975–2011); Royal Canadian Air Force (2011–present)

Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons

Squadron
numbers

Pre-WWII Squadrons	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 18
100-series squadrons	110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 145 147 149 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 170
WW2 400-series Article XV squadrons	400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443
WW2 600-series AOP squadrons¹	664 665 666
Post-war squadrons	103 444 445 446 447 448 449 450

Squadron
codes

WW2 Canada

1 August 1939 - May 1942	AY BK BT DM EX FD FY JY KA KO LT MX NA OP OY PB QN RE TM XE XO YO ZD
Unit formation in 1940 - May 1942	AN BF GK GV LU PO QE TQ RA
Dartmouth Hurricanes 1942	1 or 2 1 or 2 1 or 2
May 1942 - 16 October 1942	AE AF AG AN AZ BA BD BV DE DZ EA ED EN ET FG FN GA GR HA HJ JK KL LM LR LV LZ MA MK MR NO PQ QG RA RS SZ TF TN UV UY VD VW XP XY YA YH YZ ZM ZR

WW2 Overseas
1940-1946

Operational squadrons	AB AE AL AN AU AW BM BX 2I CI DB DG DH DN EE EQ 5V FD F3 6U GX G9 HU I8 9G KH KP KW LQ NA ND NH OW PT QB QL QO QY RA RR RU RV SE SP SW TH VR VZ WL YI YO YZ ZL ZU Z2
Transport squadrons	OWL² ODM ODN ODO

Post-WW2
1947 - 1958

1947 - 1951 (VCXXA)³	AA AB AC AD AG AH AK AM AN AO AP AQ AT AU AW AX BA BC BN BQ BU XV
1951 - 1958 (XXnnn)⁴	AF AM AN AP AQ AS AX BA BB BH BQ BR BT BU BV DL FG GW HG HO IG JF JW KE KH LP MN NQ PF PR QP QT RX SA SP SV TF UD VN XK XV

¹Aircraft administered and serviced by the RCAF but manned by the Royal Canadian Artillery.

² Non-standard code as unit using OW added L. Letters normally denoted parent Command, aircraft type (L Liberator transport, D Dakota etc), unit, and individual aircraft.

³ VC

XXA where VC was the civil code used by the RCAF replacing CF-, XX was the unit code and A was the aircraft ID letter

⁴ XX

nnn where XX was the unit code and nnn was the last 3 digits of the serial number. Unit code was replaced with "RCAF" in 1958