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Squadron History Index

No. 409 Squadron

Nickname: Night Hawk
Motto: MEDIA NOX MERIDIES NOSTER - "Midnight is our noon"

Battle Honours:
Defence of Britain 1941-44, Fortress Europe 1942-44, France and Germany 1944-45,
Normandy 1944 Rhine

Its Badge, in front of a cloak a crossbow. The crossbow in front of a dark cloak indicates the unit's function as a night fighter squadron.

The War Years

No. 409 Nighthawk Squadron formed at Digby in June 1941 for night operations with Boulton-Paul Defiants, moving in July to Coleby Grange, where in August Beaufighter IIf's arrived, allowing detachments to be maintained elsewhere. Two victories were claimed during the early days of the Squadron's existence, but in June 1942 Beaufighter Mk VI's were received and a greater degree of success was achieved. In February 1943 a move was made to Acklington, with detachments maintained in at least four other locations. In December a return to Coleby Grange was made, with the various detachments continuing their separate existences. Little was seen during the year, but in March 1944 the Squadron moved to Hunsdon, converting to the Mosquito Mk XII and joined No. 85 Group of the 2nd TAF (Tactical Air Force). Intruder and offensive patrols commenced and much action was seen over the Normandy beachhead in June, 11 victories were claimed during this month. After some action against V-1 Flying Bombs, operations over Europe re-commenced, and late in August the unit moved to Carpiquet in France. The first night fighters to be based on the mainland. By mid-October the Squadron had settled in the Lille area, where it was to remain until April 1945. On April 19 a move was made to the Rhine in Germany, and from here the unit was able to claim six victories in a single night. Shortly after this the war ended with the total victories at 61 1/2 claimed. The squadrons code letters during this period were KP.

  • Defiant NFI (July 1941 - September 1941)
  • Beaufighter II (August 1941 - June 1942)
  • Beaufighter VIF (June 1942 - August 1944)
  • Mosquito XIII (April 1944 - June 1945)

Cold War

Reactivated No. 409 AW (F) Squadron on 1 November 1954 and equipped with CF-100s, flying them from RCAF Station Comox, B.C. No. 409 Nighthawk squadron absorbed into the Canadian Armed Forces as an air defence squadron equipped with the CF-101 Voodoo interceptor.

  • CF-100 Canuck
  • CF-101 Voodoo

Background: Unification

The squadron was based at CFB Comox, British Columbia. The squadron was re-equipped in the early 80's with CF-18 Hornet

  • CF-101 Voodoo
  • CF-18 Hornet

Background: The Present

No.409 Nighthawk squadron was stood down on July 1994 due to defence spending reductions and its aircraft were placed in storage to be rotated through the other operational squadrons.

No. 409 Nighthawk squadron has been re-activated with the consolidation of Nos. 416 and 441 Squadrons on Jul 6 2006 at Cold Lake.

The material above is mirrored from RCAF.com with the permission of Bob Hurst - who retains copyright to the material listed.