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No. 411 (Grizzly Bear) Squadron RCAF
Active	1941-1946, 1950-1996
Country	Canada
Branch	Royal Canadian Air Force
Base	RAF Digby 1941-1946 CFB Downsview 1950-1996
Nickname(s)	Grizzly Bear
Motto(s)	Inimicus Inimico
Equipment	Supermarine Spitfire, Havard and DHC-1 Chipmunk, de Havilland Vampire, Canadair Sabre, Beechcraft Model 18, DHC-3 Otter, CH-136 Kiowa
Battle honours	Defence of Britain 1941-44, English Channel and North Sea 1942-43, Fortress Europe 1941-44, Dieppe, France and Germany 1944-45, Arnhem, Normandy 1944, Rhine

No. 411 "City of York" Squadron RCAF was a Second World War Royal Canadian Air Force squadron that operated as part of RAF Fighter Command in Europe with the Supermarine Spitfire.

History

The squadron was formed on 16 June 1941 at RAF Digby in Lincolnshire, England as an Article XV squadron under the control of the British Royal Air Force. The squadron was equipped with the Supermarine Spitfire and after a period of training the squadron began operations in August 1941 with the Spitfire VB variant. Part of the Hornchurch Wing it operated over continental Europe on Rhubarb sorties and as bomber escorts. After some rest periods the squadron joined the Kenley Wing for more operations over Europe.

Converting to the Spitfire IX in October 1943 it then became a fighter-bomber squadron. Within two weeks of the D-Day it was operating from France in the close-support role and it also operated armed reconnaissance flights. Following the advancing troops the squadron was soon based in Germany until it was disbanded at Utersen on 21 March 1946.

411 Squadron was reformed as an auxiliary fighter squadron at RCAF Station Downsview Ont. just outside Toronto on 1 October 1950. It was known as the 'County of York' squadron, the county in which Toronto was at the time located. With Havards and Chipmunks as trainers the squadron operated the de Havilland Vampire until 1956, then transitioned to the Canadair Sabre Mark V, made by Canadair in Montreal in the 1950s.

In the fall of 1958, 411 was moved from Air Defence Command to Air Transport Command, and became a light transport squadron flying the Expediter C-45, a version of the Beechcraft Model 18. The squadron adopted a Search and Rescue role in spring of 1960 with the acquisition of the DHC-3 Otter. These aircraft were operated with the RCAF code 'CSR-123', standing for Canadian Search and Rescue Model 123. The C-45 Expediter was retired in 1966.

In 1969, 411 Squadron was transferred from Air Transport Command to 10 Tactical Air Group, and the squadron's primary role changed to the support of army operations. It continued to hold a secondary SAR role, and to do mapping surveys and sovereignty flights in the Canadian arctic. In 1981, the Otter was retired and the squadron transitioned to the CH-136 Kiowa (OH-58) helicopter, which it operated in a reconnaissance and tactical support role. The squadron disbanded in 1996 following the closure of RCAF Station Downsview.

Aircraft operated

Notes

1. ^ Jefford 1988, page 90
2. ^ Orbis 1985, p 4137
3. ^ McClenaghan, John and Blatchford, Derek. 411 City of North York Squadron: 50 Years of History (c)1992. ISBN 0-9695370-0-X

References

• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing. 1985.
• Jefford, C.G. (1988). RAF Squadrons. Airlife Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.

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

• Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons
• Canadian Article XV squadrons of World War II
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1945