| No. 115 Squadron RCAF | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 1941-1944 |
| Disbanded | 23 August 1944 |
| Country |  Canada |
| Branch |  Royal Canadian Air Force |
| Role | Bomber Reconnaissance |
| Nickname(s) | Lynx |
| Motto(s) | BEWARE |
| Battle honours | Pacific Coast 1942-44 |
No. 115 Squadron was a Royal Canadian Air Force Canadian Home War Establishment (HWE) Squadron that operated during World War II.
No. 115 Squadron flew anti-submarine patrols along the coasts of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska as part of Western Air Command.
On 7 July 1942, Flight Sergeant PMG W. E. Thomas and the crew of Bristol Bolingbroke maritime patrol aircraft No. 9118 sighted a target breaking the surface and emitting white "smoke" in the Pacific Ocean 130 kilometres (70 nmi; 81 mi) northwest of the Queen Charlotte Islands. [1] At first thinking it was a whale, they quickly concluded that they could see the underwater silhouette of submarine at least 100 feet (30 m) in length and attacked, dropping a single 250-pound (113 kg) [2] or 500-pound (227 kg) [1] (sources disagree) bomb from an altitude of 500 feet (152 m) which landed just forward of the submarine's conning tower. [1] They claimed to have damaged the submarine. [1] Based on the Bolingbroke's report, the United States Coast Guard cutter USCGC McLane (WSC-146), the U.S. Coast Guard-manned United States Navy patrol vessel USS YP-251, and the Royal Canadian Navy minesweeper HMCS Quatsino proceeded to the area on 9 July 1942 and began a search for the submarine, which McLane and YP-251 claimed to sink later that day. [1] [3] The Bolingbroke crew shared credit with McLane and YP-251 for the sinking, and in 1947 the Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee identified their victim as the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine Ro-32. [4] In 1967, however, the U.S. Navy retracted this assessment because Ro-32 had been inactive in Japan at the time of the sinking and was found afloat in Japan at the end of the war. [4] The submarine reportedly sunk on 9 July 1942 remains unidentified. [4] [note 1]
No. 115 Squadron disbanded at Tolfino, British Columbia, in August 1944. [5]
The squadron's two-letter squadron code was BK from August 1939 to May 1942, then UV until the RCAF HWE discontinued the use of squadron codes on 16 October 1942 "for security reasons". [6]
The Supermarine Stranraer is a flying boat designed and built by the British Supermarine Aviation Works company at Woolston, Southampton. It was developed during the 1930s on behalf of its principal operator, the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was the RAF's last and fastest biplane flying boat.
The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by it thereafter. The Hudson was a military conversion of the Model 14 Super Electra airliner, and was the first significant aircraft construction contract for Lockheed — the initial RAF order for 200 Hudsons far surpassed any previous order the company had received.
Canadian Forces Base Greenwood, or CFB Greenwood, is a Canadian Forces Base located 1.5 nautical miles east of Greenwood, Nova Scotia. It is primarily operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force and is one of two bases in the country using the CP-140 Aurora and CP-140A Arcturus anti-submarine/maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft. Its primary RCAF lodger unit is 14 Wing, commonly referred to as 14 Wing Greenwood.
The Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke is a maritime patrol aircraft and trainer used by the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. Produced by Fairchild-Canada, it was a license-built version of the Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bomber.
The Armstrong Whitworth Atlas was a British single-engine biplane designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It served as an army co-operation aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the first purpose-designed aircraft of the army co-operation type to serve with the RAF.
No. 8 Squadron RCAF was a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) that was in operation from 1936 to 1945.
No. 119 Squadron was an RCAF Canadian Home War Establishment (HWE) Squadron. Created 15 May 1935 in Hamilton, Ontario, it came to be tasked with coastal patrol and anti-submarine duty over the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean around Nova Scotia. It was disbanded 15 March 1944 in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
No. 10 Squadron RCAF was formed on 5 October 1932 and renumbered as No. 110 Squadron on 15 November 1937, and then as No. 400 Squadron on 1 March 1941, as the first of the Article XV squadrons, manned and led by Canadians, but equipped with aircraft provided by the British. No. 10 (Bomber) Squadron RCAF was a new, unrelated unit that was formed by the Royal Canadian Air Force on 5 September 1939 for anti-submarine warfare using the same, now disused squadron number, and was active for the duration of the Second World War.
No. 11 Squadron RCAF was a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron active during the Second World War. It was primarily used in an anti-submarine role and was based on the east coast of Canada and Newfoundland. It was initially formed at RCAF Station Ottawa before moving to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia on 3 November 1939, where it became operational.
No. 6 Squadron was a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron that was active during the Second World War.
No. 7 Squadron was a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron that was active during the Second World War.
No. 5 Squadron RCAF was a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron that was active during the Second World War. It was primarily used in an anti-submarine role with Eastern Air Command and was based at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Gander, Newfoundland, Torbay, Newfoundland, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and Sydney, Nova Scotia. The squadron flew the Supermarine Stranraer, Consolidated Canso and Consolidated Catalina before disbanding on 15 July 1945.
Western Air Command was the part of the Royal Canadian Air Force's Home War Establishment responsible for air operations on the Pacific coast of Canada during the Second World War.
HMCS Quatsino was a Bangor-class minesweeper constructed for the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. Entering service in 1941, the minesweeper spent the entire war on the West Coast of Canada. Following the war, the vessel was sold for mercantile conversion in 1947 and renamed Chen Hsin. In 1950 the merchant ship was sold and renamed Concord before being broken up for scrap in 1951.
No. 3 Training Command RCAF was a training command of the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II established to administer the schools of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
Ro-32, originally named Submarine No. 71, was an Imperial Japanese Navy Kaichu-Type submarine of the Kaichu V subclass. She was in commission from 1924 to 1938, seeing service in the waters of Formosa and Japan, then served as a stationary training hulk during World War II.
USCGC McLane (WSC-146) is a 125 ft (38 m) United States Coast Guard Active-class patrol boat in commission from 1927 to 1971. She was named for Louis McLane, (1786–1857) who was appointed in 1833 as United States Secretary of State. In May 1966, she was redesignated as (WMEC-146).
YP-251 was a converted fishing vessel which served in the U.S. Navy during World War II from 1941 to 1945. She operated in the waters of the Territory of Alaska during the war. Before the war, she operated as the commercial fishing vessel MV Foremost from 1924 to 1941. After the war, she again operated as the commercial vessel MV Foremost from 1946 to 1954, then was renamed MV LeRoy.
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1 Aircraft administered and serviced by the RCAF but manned by the Royal Canadian Artillery. 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 VC  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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