No. 405 Squadron — Vancouver

Group
No. 6 Group (RCAF)
Command
Bomber Command
Home station
RAF Gransden Lodge

In the database: 3 aircraft.

History

No. 405 “Vancouver” Squadron was the first Royal Canadian Air Force bomber squadron to form overseas, becoming operational in June 1941. It flew the Vickers Wellington and then the Handley Page Halifax from Yorkshire airfields including RAF Pocklington and RAF Topcliffe, with a spell loaned to Coastal Command for patrols over the Bay of Biscay.

Returning to the bomber offensive, it joined the new Canadian No. 6 Group, and was then selected as the only RCAF squadron to serve in the elite Pathfinder Force of No. 8 Group. Flying the Avro Lancaster from RAF Gransden Lodge, it marked targets for the main force from 1943 until the end of the war in Europe.

Photographs

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The first Canadian-built [Avro Lancaster](/aircraft/1/) B Mark X, KB700 "The Ruhr Express", taxying after landing at [Northolt](/airfields/6287/), Middlesex, following a delivery flight across the Atlantic. KB700 was the first of 300 aircraft built by Victory Aircraft of Malton, Ontario, and flew operationally with Nos. [405](/squadrons/42/) and [419](/squadrons/44/) Squadrons RCAF.
ⓘ licence & creditCrouch F W (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH11041.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. The nose of [Handley Page Halifax](/aircraft/2/) B Mark II, W7710 'LQ-R' "Ruhr Valley Express", of [No. 405 Squadron](/squadrons/42/) RCAF, at [Pocklington](/airfields/41/), Yorkshire. An extra truck was added to the nose insignia after each mission. W7710 crashed at Liehuus, Denmark, on the night of 1/2 October 1942 while returning from a raid on [Flensburg](/airfields/8778/), Germany,
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Forward (F/O) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH6614.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Armourers check over a mixed bomb load of three 1,000-lb MC bombs and small bomb containers (SBCs) filled with 30-lb incendiary bombs, loaded into the bomb-bay and wing cells of a [Handley Page Halifax](/aircraft/2/) Mark II of [No. 405 Squadron](/squadrons/42/) RCAF at [Pocklington](/airfields/41/), Yorkshire.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Forward (F/O) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945._CH17362.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941. Officers of [No. 405 Squadron](/squadrons/42/) RCAF, the first Canadian bomber unit,outside their mess at [Topcliffe](/airfields/6374/), Yorkshire. Back row, (left to right): Pilot Officer W McEwen, Pilot Officer R K Durbridge, Pilot Officer K F Thiele, Flying Officer W Taylor, Flying Officer W Jefferson Smith, Pilot Officer G Kelly, Pilot Officer J Morris, Pilot Officer T C Bradshaw, Pilot Officer C Morris, Pilot Officer D Miller, Mr D A Rait, Pilot Officer H F Beckett, Pilot Officer G M Worthington, Pilot Officer M K Solheim, Pilot Officer G Gibson, Pilot Officer R Locke, Flying Officer S M Russell, Pilot Officer J Cherry, Pilot Officer P J Wilson. Middle row, (left to right): Mr P A Canning, Flight Lieutenant S Robertson, Flight Lieutenant J Garneau, Acting Squadron Officer P E Messenger, Flight Lieutenant J Searby, Flight Lieutenant G N Street, Flight Lieutenant G N Ruthven, Flying Officer V Tapp, Flying Officer C Lockyer, Flight Lieutenant A F Allen, Flying Officer E C Bulmer
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1939-1941._CH4718.jpgView source & full licence →