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| No. 420 (Snowy Owl) Squadron RCAF | |
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| Active | 19 December 1941 – 5 September 1945 15 September 1948 – 1 September 1956 1 May 1974 – 15 May 1995 |
| Country |  Canada |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Air Force.svg) Royal Canadian Air Force |
| Role | Bomber squadron Fighter squadron Coastal patrol squadron |
| Part of | RAF Bomber Command RCAF Air Defence Command Canadian Forces Air Command |
| Nickname | Snowy Owl |
| Mottos | Pugnamus finitum "We fight to the finish" |
| Engagements | English Channel and North Sea 1942–44, Baltic 1942, Fortress Europe 1942–44, France and Germany 1944–45, Biscay Ports 1942–44, Ruhr 1942–45, Berlin 1944, German Ports 1942–45, Normandy 1944, Rhine, Biscay 1942-43, Sicily 1943, Italy 1943, Salerno. 1945: FromRAF Tholthorpe, Yorkshire: raids over Germany. |
| Insignia | |
| Squadron code in WWII | PT |
No. 420 "City of London" Squadron RCAF was a squadron of theRoyal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) (and subsequentlyCanadian Forces) which existed from late December 1941 forwards. The Squadron's nickname was "Snowy Owl". Their motto wasPugnamus Finitum, Latin forWe Fight To The Finish. No. 420 Squadron is no longer active.
No. 420 Squadron was formed atWaddington, Lincolnshire,England on 19 December 1941 by Jordan Tyler and Dan Riggden. During theSecond World War, the unit ultimately flewManchester,Hampden,Wellington,Halifax, andLancaster aircraft on strategic and tactical bombing operations. From June to October 1943 it flew tropicalized Wellington aircraft from North Africa in support of the invasions ofSicily andItaly. In April 1945 they converted to Lancasters, and when hostilities in Europe concluded, it was selected as part ofTiger Force slated for duty in thePacific, and returned to Canada for reorganisation and training. The sudden end of the war in the Far East resulted in the Squadron being disbanded atDebert, Nova Scotia on 5 September 1945.
No. 420 Squadron reformed atLondon, Ontario on 15 September 1948, and flewMustang aircraft in a fighter role until the squadron disbanded on 1 September 1956. Re-formed during the unification period, No. 420 was an air reserve squadron based initially at CFB Shearwater, Nova scotia flying the Tracker air craft that had once been the backbone of the Canadian Naval Air's anti-submarine program. As an Air Reserve Squadron it participated with regular fisheries patrols. It was one of the few active Air Reserve Squadrons in Canada and was paired with the Regular Force's 880 Squadron. The Squadron was rebased to CFB Summerside when that base was downsized. No. 420 Squadron is no longer active.
In 2004 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation made a film which documents the crash of DF626, a Wellington bomber of the 420 Squadron. The film is calledFinal Flight, The Search for DF626.
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1Aircraft administered and serviced by the RCAF but crewed by theRoyal Canadian Artillery. 2 Non-standard code as unit using OW added L. Letters normally denoted parent Command, aircraft type (LLiberator transport, DDakota etc), unit, and individual aircraft. 3 VC .svg) XXA where VC was the civil code used by the RCAF replacing CF-, XX was the unit code and A was the aircraft ID letter4 XX nnn 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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