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442 Transport and Rescue Squadron
442 Escadron de transport et de sauvetage
Squadron badge featuring a haietlik
Active	1944–1945, 1946–1964, 1968–present
Country	Canada
Branch	Royal Canadian Air Force
Type	Tactical transport, search and rescue
Part of	19 Wing Comox
Motto(s)	Un Dieu, une reine, un cœur (French for 'One God, one queen, one heart')
Battle honours	Fortress Europe, 1944 France and Germany, 1944–1945 Normandy, 1944 Arnhem Rhine Aleutians, 1943
Website	canada.ca/en/air-force/corporate/squadrons/442-squadron.html
Commanders
Commander	Lieutenant-Colonel Francois Fasquelle
Aircraft flown
Transport	CC-295 Kingfisher and AgustaWestland CH-149 Cormorant

442 Transport and Rescue Squadron (French: 442 Escadron de transport et de sauvetage) is a Royal Canadian Air Force tactical transport and search and rescue unit based at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Comox in British Columbia. The squadron flies six CC-295 Kingfisher aircraft, replacing six CC-115 Buffalo STOL aircraft, which have been retired as of 2020, and five AgustaWestland CH-149 Cormorant rescue helicopters. One of each is on constant readiness to deploy in response to distress calls in the Victoria Search and Rescue Region, which includes most of British Columbia and the territory of Yukon as well as 560,000 square kilometres in the Pacific Ocean, up to 600 nautical miles (1,100 km) offshore. The squadron also serves as the operational training unit for the CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and CC-295 Kingfisher aircraft.

History

The unit was first activated in 1942 flying Curtis Kittyhawks as 14 Fighter Squadron with the RCAF Western Air Command due to the threat to Canada's west coast after the Pearl Harbor attack. The squadron moved to Alaska and participated on strafing and bombing missions against then-Japanese held Kiska during the Aleutian Islands Campaign. The squadron was then renumbered to 442 Fighter Squadron and transferred to England in January 1944 and flew attack and long-range bomber escort sorties in Northwest Europe flying the North American Mustang IV, claiming over 58 enemy aircraft and hundreds of vehicles, locomotives and rail cars. The squadron was disbanded in England in 1945 following the end of hostilities, and reformed a year later at RCAF Station Sea Island as an auxiliary fighter squadron with deHavilland Vampires. Starting in 1956 the Vampires were augmented with the more modern Canadair Sabre 5. However, by 1958 they reequipped with deHavilland Otters and Beech Expeditors flying as a redesignated auxiliary transport squadron. It was again disbanded in 1964.

The squadron was reformed during the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces as 442 Communications and Rescue Squadron at CFB Comox before being redesignated to its current name and role a few months later. Since then, 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron has become the busiest search and rescue unit in the country.

• CC-115 Buffalo of 442 Squadron in 2004 (retired in 2020)
• 442 Squadron Cormorant 901 in 2008

References

1. Volume 4: Operational Flying Squadrons, Department of National Defence/Directorate of History and Heritage, 19 August 2010
2. Aleutian Campaign, Department of National Defence/Royal Canadian Air Force, 10 December 2008, archived from the original on 9 January 2012, retrieved 24 January 2012
3. World War II, Department of National Defence/Royal Canadian Air Force, 10 December 2008
4. Post-War, Department of National Defence/Royal Canadian Air Force, 10 December 2008
5. 1960s and beyond, Department of National Defence/Royal Canadian Air Force, 10 December 2008

External links

• Official website
• Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Victoria

v t e Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons
Squadron numbers	Pre-WWII Squadrons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 18 100-series squadrons 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 145 147 149 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 170 WW2 400-series Article XV squadrons 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 WW2 600-series AOP squadrons 664 665 666 Post-war squadrons 103 444 445 446 447 448 449 450
Squadron codes	WW2 Canada 1 August 1939 - May 1942 AY BK BT DM EX FD FY JY KA KO LT MX NA OP OY PB QN RE TM XE XO YO ZD Unit formation in 1940 - May 1942 AN BF GK GV LU PO QE TQ RA Dartmouth Hurricanes 1942 1 or 2 1 or 2 1 or 2 May 1942 - 16 October 1942 AE AF AG AN AZ BA BD BV DE DZ EA ED EN ET FG FN GA GR HA HJ JK KL LM LR LV LZ MA MK MR NO PQ QG RA RS SZ TF TN UV UY VD VW XP XY YA YH YZ ZM ZR WW2 Overseas 1940-1946 Operational squadrons AB AE AL AN AU AW BM BX 2I CI DB DG DH DN EE EQ 5V FD F3 6U GX G9 HU I8 9G KH KP KW LQ NA ND NH OW PT QB QL QO QY RA RR RU RV SE SP SW TH VR VZ WL YI YO YZ ZL ZU Z2 Transport squadrons OWL ODM ODN ODO Post-WW2 1947 - 1958 1947 - 1951 (VCXXA) AA AB AC AD AG AH AK AM AN AO AP AQ AT AU AW AX BA BC BN BQ BU XV 1951 - 1958 (XXnnn) AF AM AN AP AQ AS AX BA BB BH BQ BR BT BU BV DL FG GW HG HO IG JF JW KE KH LP MN NQ PF PR QP QT RX SA SP SV TF UD VN XK XV
Aircraft administered and serviced by the RCAF but manned by the Royal Canadian Artillery. Non-standard code as unit using OW added L. Letters normally denoted parent Command, aircraft type (L Liberator transport, D Dakota etc), unit, and individual aircraft. VCXXA where VC was the civil code used by the RCAF replacing CF-, XX was the unit code and A was the aircraft ID letter XXnnn where XX was the unit code and nnn was the last 3 digits of the serial number. Unit code was replaced with "RCAF" in 1958

• Canadian Forces aircraft squadrons
• Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons
• Military units and formations of Canada in World War II
• Military units and formations established in 1968