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Squadron History Index

No. 416 Squadron

Nickname: City of Oshawa, Lynx
Motto: AD SALTUM PARATUS - "Ready to Leap"

Battle Honours:
Defence of Britain 1942-44, Arnhem Fortress Europe 1942-44, English Channel and North Sea 1943, Dieppe Normandy Rhine France and Germany 1944-45, Gulf War 1991

Its Badge, in front of the maple leaf a lynx leaping down. The lynx is a fierce and dangerous opponent, indigenous to Canada.

Background: The War Years

No. 416 Squadron formed at Peterhead in November 1941 with Supermarine Spitfire Mk II's, moving to Dyce in March 1942 when Spitfire Mk V's were received. The unit stayed at various Scottish bases until June, when a move to the south began. Martlesham Heath became the main base of operations until February 1943, with Hawkinge and Redhill used as forward airfields. A move was then made to Kenley where in March Spitfire Mk IX's became available. In May however the Squadron withdrew to the Digby sector, reverting to Spitfire Mk V's until January 1944, when re-equipping with the Mk IXb's took place. A return to Kenley followed in February 1944 to join No. 127 Wing of the 2nd TAF(Tactical Air Force). This was followed by a move to Tangmere in April for operations over the Normandy beachhead. The Squadron deployed to France on 16 June and thereafter the unit was much involved supporting and covering the armies on the ground. By the autumn the wing had moved up to Belgium and here the unit received Spitfire Mk XVI's in December. Operations with these aircraft continued until the end of the war, by which time the Squadron had claimed 75 victories. The squadron aircraft carried the unit code DN during this period.

Representative Aircraft

  • Spitfire IIA/IIB (November 1941 - April 1942)
  • Spitfire VB (April 1942 - April 1943)
  • Spitfire IXC (April 1943 - May 1943)
  • Spitfire VB/VC (May 1943 - February 1944)
  • Spitfire IXC (January 1944 - December 1944)
  • Spitfire XVI (December 1944 - September 1945)
  • Spitfire XIVE (September 1945 - April 1946)

Background: The Cold War

The squadron was reformed at Uplands on 28 September 1952 and participated with Nos. 421 and 430 Squadrons in Leapfrog 2 across the Atlantic to Grostenquin, France. This was the first Wing effort as 56 Sabres were flown overseas. No. 2 (F) Wing was the first RCAF formation based in Continental Europe since March, 1946. No. 416 was disbanded on 31 March 1957 and reactivated as an AW(F) Squadron on 1 February 1957 and issued CF-100s. These were eventually exchanged for Voodoos where the Squadron flew them out of Chatham, N.B.

Representative Aircraft

  • Sabre
  • CF-100 Canuck

Background: Unification

Upon unification of the forces No. 416 Nighthawk squadron was an air defence squadron equipped with the CF-101 Voodoo interceptor. The squadron was based at CFB Chatham, New Brunswick.

Representative Aircraft

  • CF-101 Voodoo

Background: The Present

In 1985 the squadron moved from CFB Chatham, New Brunswick to CFB Cold Lake, Alberta, were it currently resides, and converted from the CF-101 Voodoo to the CF-18 Hornet Tactical Fighter. No 416 Squadron was the last squadron to transition to the CF-18 Hornet.

No. 416 TFS was consolidated with No. 441 TFS at CFB Cold Lake, Jul 6 2006 to form No. 409 TFS and its Battle Honours laid to rest.

Representative Aircraft

  • CF-18 Hornet
The material above is mirrored from RCAF.com with the permission of Bob Hurst - who retains copyright to the material listed.