About This Unit
No. 428 Squadron RCAF
No. 428 Squadron RCAF is included on the VWMA becasue like many other Commonwealth units, RAAF personnel served fought and died in these units. No. 428 Squadron was the ninth long-range heavy bomber Article XV squadron formed overseas during the Second World War at RAF Dalton in Yorkshire, England on November 7, 1942. The squadron was initially assigned to No. 4 Group RAF. With the creation of No. 6 Group RCAF, the squadron was reallocated on January 1, 1943 operating with it until April 25, 1945.
The squadron was first equipped with Vickers Wellingtons (Mk III and Mk X), and its first operational mission was on January 26–27, 1943. Five Wellingtons bombed the Keroman Submarine Base U-Boat pens at Lorient in Brittany, on the Bay of Biscay. In the early part of June 1943, the squadron moved to RAF Middleton St. George where it remained for the remainder of the war. Around this time the squadron was converted to the four-engined heavy Handley Page Halifaxes (Mk Vs, and later supplemented by Mk II Series IIA).
In January 1944, Halifax bombers from No. 428 Squadron participated in the first high-level mining raid, nick-named "Gardening" missions, when mines were dropped by parachute from 15,000 feet (4,570 m) over Brest on 4/5 Jan and Saint-Nazaire on 6/7 January 1944. The squadron flew its last sortie with the Halifax on June 12, 1944, then converting to the Canadian-built Avro Lancaster (B. Mark X), the first sortie taking place on June 14, 1944.
For the final phase of the air campaign against Germany, the squadron took part in day and night raids, with its last operational sortie taking place on April 25, 1945, when 15 Lancasters bombed anti-aircraft gun batteries defending the mouth of the Weser, on the Frisian Island of Wangerooge. No. 428 Squadron RCAF remained in service in the United Kingdom until the end of May 1945.
By the middle of June the squadron had moved to RCAF Station Yarmouth in Nova Scotia, where it was disbanded on September 5, 1945.
Extract from Wikipedia
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