| 433 Squadron | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 1943-1945 1954-1961 1968-2005 2015- |
| Country |  Canada |
| Branch |  Royal Canadian Air Force |
| Nickname | Porcupine |
| Mottos | Qui s'y frotte s'y pique ("Who opposes it gets hurt") |
| Battle honours | English Channel & North Sea 1944-1945 Baltic 1944-1945 Fortress Europe 1944 France & Germany 1944-1945 Biscay Ports 1944 Ruhr 1944-1945 Berlin 1944 German Ports 1944-1945 Normandy 1944 Rhine Biscay 1944 |
433 Squadron is a unit of theRoyal Canadian Air Force. It operatesCF-18 Hornetfighter jets fromCFB Bagotville inQuebec,Canada. As of 2024, its Commanding Officer is Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Dhillon.
No. 433 Squadron formed atRAF Skipton-on-Swale on 25 September 1943, but was without aircraft for nearly two months. When these arrived they were the latest version of theHandley Page Halifax, the Mk III, and No. 433 worked up on them to begin operations on 2 January 1944. For the next year the squadron was continuously operational on Halifaxes over the Continent by night. In January 1945 the Halifaxes were replaced byAvro Lancaster Mk Is, and No. 433 used these for three months, by which time the war in Europe had come to an end. No. 433 was not disbanded but, as part ofNo. 1 Group, flew trooping flights from Germany and Italy, bringing back troops and POWs. This continued until 15 October 1945, when the squadron disbanded at Skipton-on-Swale.[citation needed]
No. 433 Squadron reformed as an All-Weather (Fighter) unit atCFB Cold Lake, Alberta, on 15 November 1954, and moved toCFB North Bay, Ontario, in October 1955, the squadron flewCF-100 Canuck aircraft on North American air defence until disbanded on 1 August 1961.[citation needed]
Reformedpost-unification No. 433Escadrille tactique de combat (ETAC) was a French language squadron of Mobile Command based atCFB Bagotville,Quebec. No. 433 Escadrille flew theCF-5 Freedom Fighter in the tactical and reconnaissance role until conversion to theCF-188 Hornetfighter jets in 1984.[citation needed]
The squadron was deactivated in 2005, and its assets and personnel amalgamated into425 Tactical Fighter Squadron.[1]
The squadron was reactivated on 9 June 2015.[2]
The squadron celebrated its 75th anniversary on 15 September 2018.
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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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||