424 Transport and Rescue Squadron

424 "Tiger” Transport and Rescue Squadron

424 Squadron badge
Country Canada
Branch Royal Canadian Air Force
Type Strategic transport, Search and Rescue
Part of 8 Wing Trenton
Motto(s) Castigandos castigamus (English: We chastise those who deserve to be chastised)
Battle honours English Channel and North Sea 1943–1945, Baltic 1944–1945, Fortress Europe 1943–1944, France and Germany 1944–1945, Biscay Ports 1943–1944, Ruhr 1943–1945, Berlin 1944, German Ports 1943–1945, Normandy 1944, Rhine, Biscay 1943–1944, Sicily 1943, Italy 1943, Salerno.
Website airforce.gc.ca
Commanders
Commander Lieutenant-Colonel Leighton James
Aircraft flown
Transport Lockheed CC-130H Hercules and Bell CH-146 Griffon

424 Transport and Rescue Squadron (French: 424e Escadron de transport et de sauvetage), nicknamed "Tiger Squadron", is a Royal Canadian Air Force strategic transport and search and rescue unit based at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton in the Canadian province of Ontario. The squadron is the primary provider of search and rescue response for the Trenton Search and Rescue Region, which extends from Quebec City to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Canada–United States border to the North Pole, covering an area of over ten million square kilometres in Central, Western, and Northern Canada.[1] The squadron operates the Lockheed CC-130H Hercules transport aircraft and the Bell CH-146 Griffon helicopter. Pararescue specialists, known as Search and Rescue Technicians (SAR Techs) are on constant standby to deploy within 30 minutes of notification during weekdays and 2 hours at other times.[1]

History

No. 424 Squadron RCAF was formed on 15 October 1942 in Topcliffe, England as a bomber squadron. On 1 January 1943 it joined No. 6 Group RCAF and took part in night bombing raids on Germany until 16 April 1943. It was then transferred to North Africa for attacks on Italian targets for three months and stationed in Tunisia during that time.[2] Returning to the United Kingdom it was equipped with Halifaxes for a year and after January 1945 with Lancasters. During this period it was also known as No. 424 (Tiger) Squadron.[2] The squadron disbanded on 15 October 1945 and was reactivated a year later at RCAF Station Hamilton as an auxiliary light bomber squadron, then deactivated again in 1964. On 8 July 1968, during the unification of the Canadian Forces, the squadron was reactivated as 424 Communications and Transport Squadron, operating from Hangar 9 at CFB Trenton. The squadron has received sixteen battle honours and has flown more than 14 different types of aircraft during its history.[1]

On 27 October 2011, the squadron acknowledged the death of Sergeant Janick Gilbert, a Search and Rescue technician who perished while participating in a rescue mission in the waters of Nunavut.[3]

On 17 December 2013, a Bell CH-146 Griffon helicopter from the squadron was dispatched from CFB Trenton to Kingston, Ontario to rescue a stranded crane operator above a large fire at a student housing project under construction. A Search and Rescue Technician was lowered by winch cable from the helicopter and successfully rescued the construction worker.[4]

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron – General information, Department of National Defence/Royal Canadian Air Force, 31 August 2010, archived from the original on 23 March 2012
  2. 1 2 Moyes 1976, p. 242.
  3. ↑ Calder, Joanna (1 November 2011), Fallen SAR tech returns to Trenton, Department of National Defence/Royal Canadian Air Force
  4. ↑ "Kingston fire: Crane operator saved from blazing inferno by daring helicopter rescue", The National Post, 17 December 2013
Bibliography
  • Bottomley, Captain Nora. 424 Squadron History: A detailed pictorial history of 424 Squadron (RCAF) from the its origins in 1935 to modern times. Kingston, Ontario, Canada: The Hangar Bookshelf, 1985. ISBN 0-920497-02-0.
  • Halley, James J. The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1981–1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. ISBN 0-85130-164-9.
  • Moyes, Philip J.R. Bomber Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1964 (Second edition 1976). ISBN 0-354-01027-1.

External links

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