438 "City of Montreal" Tactical Helicopter Squadron (French: ) is a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The squadron operates the Bell CH-146 Griffon tactical helicopter from the Hartland de Montarville Molson Hangar of CFB St. Hubert in Quebec, Canada. Its tasks include armed and unarmed tactical utility transport, training aircrew personnel in basic and advanced aviation tactics, technical training of groundcrew personnel and flight engineers and the periodic maintenance of CH-146 fleet aircraft. They also include as residual capabilities search and rescue, reconnaissance and support to federal, provincial and local law enforcement agencies. A "total force" unit composed of members of the Regular Force, and both full time and part time reservists, the squadron is part of 1 Wing at CFB Kingston Ontario.
The motto "Going Down" was adopted during the Second World War when operating Hawker Typhoon fighter bombers over occupied Europe. This was the flight leader's instruction to begin diving attacks with bombs, cannons or both.
The unit badge is the wildcat and described in heraldic terms as: "d'Argent, the head of a wildcat affront Gules, langued Azure". The wildcat was chosen as the emblem as it represents the squadron's nickname.
Pre-war Formation The formation of the Squadron is due to the sustained efforts of Adélard Raymond, Montreal businessman and veteran pilot of the First World War, and La Presse journalist Lionel Saint-Jean who was the president of the Quebec Aviation League. These men worked closely together from May 1934 onwards to formulate a formal request aimed at the formation of a reserve aviation squadron attached to the militia, like the already existing ones in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver, but composed of francophones. This official request was presented on 18 June 1934 in the form of a letter to Brigadier-General W.W.P. Gibsone, commander of Military District 4 and included the signatures of several local businessmen and politicians. It contained (translated from the original text in French):
“We are particularly proud to declare that the group we represent is French Canadian. We, French-speaking Canadians, want to affirm once again our patriotism towards our country. We want this squadron to be made up of French Canadians ...”
On 27 July, Group Captain G.M. Croil, senior officer of the RCAF, met with Mr. St-Jean and a dozen other signatories. From a list of 31 qualified pilots, including several veterans of 1914–18, he selected 14 who would form the initial nucleus of the new unit. It was on 1 September 1934 that the unit was authorized in Montreal, Quebec as No. 18 Bomber Squadron (Auxiliary). It will initially have an authorized strength of 66 members and will be under the temporary administrative command of Squadron Leader C.E. Trudeau, a regular member personally recommended by Brigadier-General Gibsone.
First flights Following the recruitment and training of the cadre personnel forming the basic structure of the Squadron, flight training operations began in May 1936 from St-Hubert on the south shore of Montreal following the reception of the first two of four de Havilland DH.60 Moths. Squadron leader Marcel Dubuc, a veteran pilot with recognized qualities, was appointed its first commanding officer in May 1936. The unit was renumbered No. 118 (Bomber) Squadron on November 17, 1937 as part of a restructuring of RCAF squadrons. Two additional aircraft arrived in 1938 and the size of the squadron was increased to 114 members.
Squadron leader Marcel Dubuc1st CO of 118 (B) Squadron - 1936 Airman Léo Blanchette118 (B) Squadron recruit - 1937 Gipsy Moth no. 67 on skis for winter ops118 (B) Squadron - 1937 Gipsy Moth no. 122 being towed118 (B) Squadron - 1938
Second World War Coastal Artillery Co-operation
The unit was redesignated No.118 (Coast Artillery Co-operation) Squadron on 1 September 1939, activated for voluntary wartime service on 3 September, and moved to Saint John, New Brunswick on 28 October. 117 (Aux) Sqn from St-John N.B. was simultaneously absorbed into the unit along with personnel transferred in from No. 2 (AC) Sqn with their Atlas aircraft. These reinforcements formed a new A flight that would operate out of Halifax airport until 31 March 1940 when they moved to RCAF Station Dartmouth.
The squadron was reequipped with Westland Lysanders and Blackburn Sharks better suited to this new role which consisted of patrolling the coast for enemy naval activity and directing coastal artillery batteries when/if required. Westland Wapiti aircraft borrowed from No.10 (B) Sqn were also used for a few months until more Atlases became available.
After nearly a year of coastal sweeps, the occasional patrol for convoys close inshore, dive-bombing exercises with army batteries and naval anti-aircraft gunners, air gunnery training and aerial photographic duties, the squadron was temporarily deactivated on 27 September 1940 pending redesignation and the arrival of more modern aircraft.
Atlantic Coast defence
The squadron was reactivated at Rockliffe, Ontario on 13 January 1941 with the new designation No.118 (Fighter) Squadron and reequipped with the Grumman Goblin, an American biplane design which were licence built in Canada by Canadian Car and Foundry . The unit moved to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia in July being at that time, the sole fighter squadron available for East Coast defence. In October 1941 the more capable Curtiss Kittyhawk replaced the obsolete Goblin.
The RCAF was facing a serious shortage of frontline fighters, having sent its Hawker Hurricanes off to the UK with No. 1 (F) Squadron, it was having a hard time procuring additional fighters to meet its needs. For these reasons, 50 Canadian built Sea Hurricanes destined for the British Royal Navy were retained in Canada. All were placed on strength of 118 Sqn in November 1941.
These brand new fighters were test flown by 118 squadron pilots upon arrival or reassembly. Many were put in temporary storage, the few others still leaving with the RAF were also test flown by 118 pilots prior to fitting to catapult equipped merchant vessels. 118 Sqn formed a “Hurricane Flight” and more than a dozen were regularly flown by squadron personnel. 118 was operating a full complement of Kittyhawks, Sea Hurricanes, and a few Harvards, and was still flying its Goblins well into January 1942. These catapult spool and arrestor hook equipped Sea Hurricanes were painted in the British Fleet Air Arm paint scheme of dark greys with 'Royal Navy' painted on the fuselage, looking oddly out of place on an RCAF ramp. On 27 April 1942, the Sea Hurricanes, many of which with their naval modifications now removed, along with many 118 Sqn personnel from the “Hurricane Flight” formed the nucleus of the newly formed 126 (F) Sqn also at Dartmouth. This new unit would be temporarily under the command of Flight Lieutenant Arthur Yuile who had previously been in charge of the flight. On January 16, 1942, when two 118 Squadron Kittyhawks spotted and attacked a surfaced German U-boat approximately 10 miles off the coast near the Sambro Island light house. Flying Officer W.P. Roberts in Kittyhawk AK851 was able to fire six bursts and obtain a number of hits around the conning tower before the submarine dove underwater and disappeared from sight.
The squadron code displayed on all unit aircraft was "RE" from January 1941 to May 1942 when it changed to "VW".
Fighter - Pacific Coast
With the entry of the United States into the war following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Canadian Government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King offered military naval and air support to the then limited American capabilities facing Japanese expansion in the Aleutian Islands. Two fighter and light bomber wings were formed for service on the Pacific coast, X and Y Wings composed of Kittyhawk fighters and Bristol Bolingbroke light bombers under the RCAF Western Air Command. 118 Sqn and 115 Squadron formed Y Wing.
For the historic cross-continent flight of 4,000 miles, 118 was led by Flight Lieutenant Yuile. Squadron Leader Hartland Molson, 118 Squadron's commanding officer and a veteran Hurricane pilot of the Battle of Britain, remained in Dartmouth to assume command of 126 (F) Sqn.
The squadron left Dartmouth on the morning of 6 June 1942 for Annette Island, Alaska. The squadron made refuelling stops at Penfield Ridge, New Brunswick, Saint-Hubert, Quebec, North Bay, Ontario, Porquis Junction, Ontario, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Edmonton, Alberta, and Prince George, British Columbia. They arrived on 21 June; A Flight was armed and refuelled ready for action within 15 minutes of landing. The squadron moved to Sea Island British Columbia on 20 August 1943 and would remain there until ordered overseas.
Five pilots died in non-combat-related crashes during this period of home defence.
Fighter bombers in Europe
Leaving their Kittyhawks behind, the 142 strong squadron crossed Canada by rail, embarking on 2 November 1943 in Halifax for the sea voyage to the United Kingdom. The squadron was once again redesignated, this time as No.438 (Fighter Bomber) Squadron upon arriving at Royal Air Force Station Digby, Lincolnshire on 18 November. RCAF squadrons were renumbered between 400 and 449 to avoid confusion with other British Empire units also operating from the United Kingdom. under RAF operational control. Its new squadron code was "F3" which was retained until the end of hostilities in Europe. The squadron moved to RAF Ayr II (Healthfield) in Scotland on 10 January 1944 where the pilots learnt to fly the Hawker Hurricane first to ease conversion to the powerful Hawker Typhoon. 438 Squadron was now one of three RCAF Typhoon squadrons forming No. 143 Wing RCAF within the RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF).
In mid March, 438 squadron began cross-channel offensive operations against pre-invasion targets flying from RAF Hurn and RAF Funtington. After D-Day, its main task was close support to allied ground forces by dive-bombing and strafing enemy strong-points, bridges, rail and road traffic. The front lines moving further inland, on 27 June the squadron moved to forward airfield B-9 at Lantheuil in France. This base was still well within the range of German artillery and on 15 July Flying Officer Ross Johnson, a 21 year old pilot was killed during a barrage directed at his motor transport. The Wildcats moved from airfield to airfield following the advance of the front lines deeper into Europe. They were at B.24 St André on 31 August, B.48 Glisy on 3 September, and at B.58 Melsbroek on 6 September to participate in support of Operation Market Garden. It moved into the airfield at Eindhoven, Netherlands on 26 September; the base had just been recently vacated by the enemy as a result of the operation. There they lost their new commanding officer Acting Squadron Leader Peter Wilson on the very day he took command, 1 January 1945, during the Luftwaffe's Operation Bodenplatte attacks on allied airfields.
On 19 March 1945, after nearly 6 months in Eindhoven, with the end of the war in sight, the squadron was pulled from combat operations and sent back to RAF Warmwell for rocket firing training, ironic considering the RCAF Typhoon squadrons did not use this weapon in combat preferring bombs earning them the nickname "Bombphoons". It is during this Armament Practice Camp that their latest CO, Squadron Leader James Easson Hogg DFC, a seasoned veteran, failed to pull out of a dive and crashed into the channel dying instantly. The squadron returned to the fight on 3 April in Germany proper this time to B.100 Goch, to B.150 Hustedt on 21 April and finally to B.166 Flensburg on 29 May, the squadron was disbanded there on 26 August.