| 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron | |
|---|---|
| 425e Escadron d'appui tactique | |
 | |
| Active | 1942–1945, 1954–present |
| Country | Canada |
| Branch | Royal Canadian Air Force |
| Role | Strategic bombing (1942–1945), fighter-interceptor (1954–present) |
| Part of | No. 6 Group RCAF (1943–1945),3 Wing (1961–present) |
| Home station | CFB Bagotville |
| Nickname | Alouette Squadron |
| Motto | Je te plumerai (French for 'I shall pluck you') |
| Battle honours |
|
| Website | www |
| Insignia | |
| Badge | A lark volant wings elevated and adorned proper |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Bomber |
|
| Fighter |
|
425 Tactical Fighter Squadron (French:425e Escadron d'appui tactique, also "Alouette" (English:skylark) Squadron, is a unit of theRoyal Canadian Air Force. It operatesCF-18 Hornetfighter jets fromCFB Bagotville inQuebec, Canada. The squadron was originally formed during theSecond World War. As of 2022, its Commanding Officer is Lieutenant Colonel Maxime "Piglet" Renaud.
425 Squadron, the first French Canadian squadron, was formed on 22 June 1942 atRAF Dishforth inYorkshire,England, as a bomber unit flyingVickers Wellingtons. On the night of 5/6 October 1942, the squadron went into action for the first time, bombingAachen with a small number of aircraft. In 1943, the squadron flew toKairouan,Tunisia, and from there, it conducted operations againstItaly andSicily, returning to the UK in November of the same year. In December, they were re-equipped withHandley Page Halifaxes and flew their first mission with these aircraft in February 1944. Their final operation took place on 25 April 1945, when they bombed gun batteries on the tiny Frisian island ofWangerooge. Following the end of the war in Europe, in May 1945, 425 Squadron re-equipped again, this time withAvro Lancaster Mk X's. In June, they flew back toCanada to prepare for their role inTiger Force for the continuing war againstJapan. Theuse of atomic bombs precluded the need for Tiger Force, and 425 was disbanded on 5 September 1945 atRCAF Station Debert, less than three weeks after the Japanese surrender.
The squadron was reformed atRCAF Station St Hubert in October 1954, flyingCF-100 Canucks as an all-weather fighter squadron. After re-equipping with theCF-101 Voodoo, 425 became the RCAFOperational Training Unit for this aircraft type atRCAF Station Namao in late 1961 before transferring to its current base atBagotville, Quebec, and becoming a front-line squadron a few months later. From 1982, theCanadian Forces started to acquireCF-18 Hornets; 425 received them in 1985[2] and still flies them today.[3] In 2005,433 Squadron was merged into 425 Squadron. In 2008, the squadron was awarded its first battle honour since the Second World War for its part inOperation Allied Force.
A detachment of four CF-18 fighters from the squadron deployed toRomania, at theMihail Kogălniceanu Air Base in March 2016 to participate in the Resilient Resolve exercise. For about a month, the 100 servicemen conducted bilateral training with theRomanian Air Force.[4] The squadron was deployed to Romania previously, atCâmpia Turzii in 2014, as part ofNATO's assurance measures in response toRussia's annexation of Crimea.[5] In 2022, 425 Squadron was again deployed at Mihail Kogălniceanu to participate in NATO's enhanced Air Policing mission in theBlack Sea region.[6]
| Squadron numbers |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squadron codes |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg)
