No. 429 Squadron — Bison

No. 429 “Bison” Squadron was formed at RAF East Moor in November 1942, beginning in No. 4 Group before passing to the Canadian No. 6 Group at the start of 1943, where it served for the rest of the war. It opened operations on the Vickers Wellington, moved to RAF Leeming in August 1943 to convert to the Handley Page Halifax, and finally took the Avro Lancaster in the war’s last weeks.

Its “Bison” name reflected the powerful animal of the Canadian plains. As well as bombing, the squadron’s later sorties included flying liberated prisoners of war back to England; over the conflict it flew more than 3,000 sorties.