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No. 421 (Red Indian) Squadron RCAF
Active	9 April 1942 to 1945 15 September 1949 to 31 August 1992
Country	Canada
Branch	Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Artillery
Type	Article XV squadron
Part of	unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force,
Nickname(s)	Red Indian
Motto(s)	Bellicum Cecinere
Battle honours	Defence of Britain 1942-43, Fortress Europe 1942-44, France and Germany 1944-45, Normandy 1944 Arnhem Rhine
Aircraft flown
Fighter	Supermarine Spitfire de Havilland Vampire Canadair Sabre Canadair CF-104 Starfighter McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet

No. 421 Squadron RCAF was a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force. It was the last RCAF fighter squadron to be formed in the UK during World War II.

Establishment

Initially established at RAF Digby in April 1942 with Supermarine Spitfire Mk VA, the squadron moving to RAF Fairwood Common in May and received Spitfire Mk VB.

The squadron's motto was Bellicum cecinere ("They have sounded the war trumpet"). Its badge was, in front of two tomahawks in saltire, a Red Indian warrior.

Second World War

During 1942 the squadron was under 10 Group and flew its mission from RAF Warmwell, RAF Fairwood Common, RAF Bolt Head, RAF Ibsley, RAF Angle, RAF Zeals and RAF Charmy Down. In January 1943 the squadron joined the 127 (Canadian) Wing and moved to Redhill Aerodrome airfield. Late in spring of 1943 the squadron received Spitfire Mk IX and flew under the command of Wing Commander Johnnie Johnson.

In preparation for the Normandy landings the 127 Wing was assigned to RAF Second Tactical Air Force. On June 16 the squadron was along with the other squadrons of 127 Wing the first to be moved to Normandy and flew air superiority missions. After the allied breakout and quick advance towards the Reich 421 squadron was based in Evere in Belgium by October 1944. During December 1944 the squadron received Spitfire XVI. In 1945 the unit participated in the liberation of the Netherlands, before moving into Germany. At the end of the war the unit had achieved over 90 aerial victories.

Postwar

Having been disbanded shortly after the war the squadron was re-activated on 15 September 1949 at Chatham flying Vampire aircraft. It moved overseas flying from RAF Odiham in the UK between January and November 1951. The squadron returned to Canada still flying Vampires from RCAF station St-Hubert until September 1952 when it returned overseas flying Canadair Sabres from Grostenquin, France. In 1962 it was equipped with CF-104 Starfighters and in 1967 the squadron moved to Zweibrücken becoming part of 1 Air Division RCAF (later renamed 1 Canadian Air Group) based at CFB Baden-Soellingen, West Germany. During the early 1980s it was equipped with CF-18 Hornets. At the end of the Cold War the squadron was disbanded and its aircraft and personnel returned to Canada.

References

Citations

1. "Bellicum cecinere". TERMIUM Plus® The Government of Canada’s terminology and linguistic data bank. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
2. Jefford 2001, p. 92.
3. "Canadian and American Squadrons at Headcorn Airfield". BBC. 8 June 2004. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
4. "No. 421 Squadron, Canadian Air Force". Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2012.

Bibliography

• Jefford, C.G. RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.

External links

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 established in 1942