No. 431 Squadron — Iroquois

No. 431 “Iroquois” Squadron was formed at RAF Burn, near Selby, in November 1942, flying the Vickers Wellington in No. 4 Group before joining the Canadian No. 6 Group. After a short spell at RAF Tholthorpe, where it took on the Handley Page Halifax, it moved in December 1943 to RAF Croft, its home for the rest of the war, and later converted to the Avro Lancaster.

The squadron’s crest carried the head of an Iroquois warrior, and its motto — rendered in the Iroquois tongue — translated as “warriors of the air”. It returned to Canada after the German surrender.