No. 400 Squadron RCAF
| No. 400 Tactical Helicopter Squadron | |
|---|---|
| Active | 5 October 1932 - 7 August 1945 15 April 1946 - Present |
| Country |
 Canada
|
| Allegiance |
Canada
|
| Branch | Royal Canadian Air Force |
| Role | Tactical Helicopter and Training |
| Motto(s) |
Latin: Percussuri Vigiles (On the watch to strike) |
| Battle honours | Fortress Europe 1941-44, Dieppe, France and Germany 1944-45, Normandy 1944, Arnhem, Rhine, Biscay 1942-43 |
| Insignia | |
| Squadron Badge heraldry | In front of two Tomahawks in solitire an eagle's head erased |
400 "City of Toronto" Tactical Helicopter and Training Squadron is part of 1 Wing, and as such a lodger unit of Canadian Forces Base Borden. The squadron operates the CH-146 Griffon.
The squadron was formed as No. 10 Army Co-Operation Squadron at Toronto, Ontario on 5 October 1932, when it flew from the Trethewey Farm Airfield (De Lesseps Field) from 1934 to 1939. On 15 November 1937, it was renumbered No. 110 "City of Toronto" Army Co-Operation Squadron.
When the squadron was called out on active service 3 September 1939, it first deployed to CFB Rockcliffe (now Ottawa/Rockcliffe Airport), Ottawa, Ontario for conversion to the Westland Lysander aircraft. The new commanding officer (CO) at that time was S/L Wilbur Dennison Van Vliet, an experienced peacetime flier. By early February 1940, the squadron was ready to depart to the UK, travelling by rail to Halifax and then by steamship across the Atlantic on 15 February. The squadron was the first Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) unit to go overseas and they were given an official send-off, in Ottawa, by the Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King and the Minister of National Defence, Ian Alistair Mackenzie. A year later it was re-designated as No. 400 Army Co-Operation Squadron on the 1 March 1941 in recognition of the fact it was the first squadron to deploy overseas. S/L Van Vliet returned to Canada, was promoted to Group Captain and died from a heart attack at age 39 in 1942 while serving as the Air Officer Commanding the Western Region of Canada, according to family legend in a training aircraft with a student at the controls. He is buried at Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa.
During the war, it flew the Westland Lysander, P-40 Tomahawk, P-51 Mustang, de Havilland Mosquito and Supermarine Spitfire primarily in the armed and unarmed reconnaissance role. Later in the war, the squadron also flew air interdiction operations. At the end of the war, 400 Squadron was disbanded on 7 August 1945, at a captured airfield in Lüneburg, Germany.
...
Wikipedia