As part of the RAF Dallachy strike wing of four Beaufighter-equipped squadrons, they took part in an attack on German ships on the Norwegian coast on 9 February 1945. The ships included a destroyer and "flak" ships as well as merchantmen. The ships were located in a fjord and German fighter aircraft scrambled in defence. As a result of the heavy losses to the Dallachy Wing the attack was subsequently called "Black Friday". The squadron disbanded on 25 May 1945.
The squadron was reformed on April 30, 1951, at RCAF Station Greenwood as 404 Maritime Reconnaissance Squadron. On 17 July 1956, 404 Squadron was redesignated as a Maritime Patrol squadron, and when the CP-140 Aurora came into service the title was changed again to 404 Maritime Patrol and Training Squadron. The current title is 404 Long Range Patrol and Training (LRP&T) Squadron.
RCAF 404 Buffalo Squadron, MP (Maritime Patrol) jacket patch manufactured by Crest Craft and possibly used between 1956 and the early 60's.
Currently, 404 Sqn serves as the Operational Training Unit (OTU) for Aircrew and Maintenance personnel who work on the CP140 Aurora.
2 Non-standard code as unit using OW added L. Letters normally denoted parent Command, aircraft type (L Liberator transport, D Dakota etc), unit, and individual aircraft.
3 VCXXA where VC was the civil code used by the RCAF replacing CF-, XX was the unit code and A was the aircraft ID letter
4 XXnnn 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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