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April 1945
Mosquito Conversion at RAF Banff
April brought a new aircraft for the squadron to fly and a new location out of which to fly. The unit was sent back on 3 April to RAF Banff to begin conversion to the longer-range Mosquito Mk VI. In less than three weeks, 404 members were fully converted to the new 'kite'. The speed with which this training was conducted brought congratulations from the Group Headquarters.
The Mosquito was a dream to fly and as one poet from the squadron put it:
The Flying Control Officer with the Buffaloes at their RAF Coastal Command base in Scotland is F/L Waldie of Calgary, Alta. F/L Waldie trained as a W/AG in 1940 and '41 and it's a long story. He came overseas and joined a Canadian torpedo squadron in 1941 flying Beauforts and Hampdens. After washing out of aircrew for medical reasons after six months of operational flying, he remustered to Flying Control, took a course in England and was appointed Pilot Officer in February of 1943 from sergeant. And now, he brings the Beaufighters in line astern like jeeps pulling up to a gas station. (original write-up for PL 40770) This photo was likely taken at Dallachy. Note the flare canister at the lower right of the photo, flares being used as emergency communication devices at the time.
On 21 April, F/O DA Catrano and F/L AE Foord in "H" RF851 were making a shipping recce over anchorages from near Haugesund to the Naze and eastward to Kristiansand, when they sighted a Bv.138 and a He.115 (flying boats) anchored about 200 feet offshore from a seaplane base. A few passes set the Blohm and Voss ablaze with a very satisfying column of smoke, which could be seen from 40 miles away.
May 1945
The final month of the war found the Buffaloes leaving their Norwegian hunting grounds to pursue the Germans into the Kattegat and Kiel Bay. S/L HW Jones took four Mosquitoes as part of the fighter cover for the Banff Wing when a strong force made a strike against U-Boats in the Kattegat on the morning of 2 May. A U-Boat, the 234-ton type XXI U-2359, skippered by Bischoff was sunk. The 775-ton Minesweeper M.293 was sent to the bottom by the other squadrons while the Buffaloes stood guard overhead.
W/C EW 'Teddy' Pierce, 404 Squadron's last wartime Commanding Officer. (from original write up) "Wing Commander William Pierce, who is English, but in the RCAF. Wing Commander Pierce held a Commission pre war in the RAF Volunteer reserve and was in New York at the outbreak of the war employed in the produce exchange. He moved to Winnipeg and worked in the Grain Exchange there for six months and was accepted into the RCAF as a Pilot Officer. He joined the Buffalo squadron in 1941 when it was just forming and is on his second tour of operations with the Buffaloes. W/C Pierce trained at Toronto, Regina, Fort William and McCleod. He is married, his wife living in Brampton, Cumberland and his parents at Wimbledon, London. (PL 40764)
The last Buffalo operation of the war was carried out on 4 May when W/C Pierce led seven of his Mosquitoes with 55 other aircraft of the Banff Strike Wing including 143, 235, 248 and 333 Squadrons to attack enemy shipping in the vicinity of Kiel. The squadrons struck across the North Sea to the Danish coast, crossed the peninsula to the Kattegat and then wheeled southwards. The first target sighted was a small R-Boat which four Buffalo crews, together with four from another squadron, riddled with cannon and rockets left a mass of burning debris.
Farther south, the strike force came upon a larger target, a convoy of seven vessels sailing in line astern - two merchant vessels estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 tons, a destroyer, a gunboat, a minesweeper and two auxiliaries. Their flak defences were of little avail as a determined attack by the aircraft inflicted severe damage on six vessels, which began to burn and smoke heavily. Only one of the auxiliaries escaped punishment. The aircraft went in on their targets to such a close range that one Mosquito returned with part of the mast and the ensign of the destroyer attached to it. One merchant vessel, the 3750-ton German Wolfgang LM Russ sunk, while the 998-ton Gunther Russ and 3540-ton Angamos were damaged.
The final days before the end of the war passed quietly. When the announcement of VE Day arrived at 404, there was no question in anybody's mind that this called for a party to end all parties. As noted in the Squadron Scrapbook, the festivities lasted for several days:
"Celebration on the station continue. Station bonfire and bags of pyrotechniques at night. Station dances - 404 boys launched repat ship Buffalo in the station emergency water supply pool. The boat was brilliantly lighted and crammed with flags and toilet paper and was launched with a fanfare of music after a long ceremonial march during which mechanized escort was provided. There seemed to be no lack of firewater on the camp. Station and squadron now goes on to a peacetime basis with Wed. PM, Sat. and Sun. off when possible. Squadron to be kept up to operational fitness in case required for the Far East (God forbid)."
On 13 May, F/O Savard phoned the Squadron from Bournemouth. He had been shot down on Black Friday and became a POW. "The Great Rog Savard, missing since February 9th, is safe! He was, according to advice received a Prisoner of War. Rog says he was in solitary confinement for 42 days in the Jug! Imagine Savard having no one to talk to but himself!" On 18 May he returned with their former CO, W/C Charles "Chuck" Willis, DFC. The latter, also an ex-POW had been shot down in March 1944. There was a station party the following day during which W/C Willis was presented with the large silver stein that he had caused to be made prior to being shot down. W/C Willis kept this stein, complete with the signatures of the aircrew in early 1944, and he personally presented it to 404 (MP&T) Squadron during the unit's 50th Anniversary ceremonies in 1991 at Greenwood, Nova Scotia.
S/L Bobby Schoales and F/L RA Jackson made the squadron's last sortie on 22 May when they escorted two squadrons of Norwegian Spitfires flying from Dyce to Stavanger and thence to Oslo. When their Mosquito returned to Banff on the evening of Victoria Day, the Buffalo's operational career ended.
During the last days of the Squadron's wartime history, there was still the matter of the conflict in the Far East. Late in 1944 and into '45, considerations had been made for the creation of the Tiger Force. 404 was initially slated to be kept together at war's end to participate as an air/sea rescue unit. This plan never came to fruition.
On 25 May, the squadron was officially disbanded. F/L KY Spencer, the squadron scribe, wrote these words about 404's final day into the ORB: "Today, 404 Squadron is to be officially disbanded.
"The writing is on the wall and it is supposed that most of us will go to some holding unit in this country and then - some to Germany - some to Burma and some us eventually - home. While we all go our different ways and the Buffalo Squadron bows to time and fate, the spirit and comradeship of all personnel that made it up and gave it a name unsurpassed in fighting annuals, will go on forever."
April brought a new aircraft for the squadron to fly and a new location out of which to fly. The unit was sent back on 3 April to RAF Banff to begin conversion to the longer-range Mosquito Mk VI. In less than three weeks, 404 members were fully converted to the new 'kite'. The speed with which this training was conducted brought congratulations from the Group Headquarters.
The Mosquito was a dream to fly and as one poet from the squadron put it:
| Her name I know was of the best, And this was the night I gave her the test, I looked at her with eyes of joy, And she was mine for the night, oh boy! |
| She looked so pretty, sweet and slim, The night was dark and the moon was dim, I was so excited my heart missed a beat, Because I know I was in for a treat. |
| I had her stripped, I had her bare, I felt around her everywhere, It was the first time she had been out with a boy, And did I enjoy it, boy, oh boy! |
| I went up high as quick as I could. I handled her gently, oh boy, was she good. I turned her over on her side, And on her back as well I tried. |
| It was one big thrill - she's the best in the land, My twin-engined Mosquito of Coastal Command. |
The Flying Control Officer with the Buffaloes at their RAF Coastal Command base in Scotland is F/L Waldie of Calgary, Alta. F/L Waldie trained as a W/AG in 1940 and '41 and it's a long story. He came overseas and joined a Canadian torpedo squadron in 1941 flying Beauforts and Hampdens. After washing out of aircrew for medical reasons after six months of operational flying, he remustered to Flying Control, took a course in England and was appointed Pilot Officer in February of 1943 from sergeant. And now, he brings the Beaufighters in line astern like jeeps pulling up to a gas station. (original write-up for PL 40770) This photo was likely taken at Dallachy. Note the flare canister at the lower right of the photo, flares being used as emergency communication devices at the time.On 21 April, F/O DA Catrano and F/L AE Foord in "H" RF851 were making a shipping recce over anchorages from near Haugesund to the Naze and eastward to Kristiansand, when they sighted a Bv.138 and a He.115 (flying boats) anchored about 200 feet offshore from a seaplane base. A few passes set the Blohm and Voss ablaze with a very satisfying column of smoke, which could be seen from 40 miles away.
May 1945
The final month of the war found the Buffaloes leaving their Norwegian hunting grounds to pursue the Germans into the Kattegat and Kiel Bay. S/L HW Jones took four Mosquitoes as part of the fighter cover for the Banff Wing when a strong force made a strike against U-Boats in the Kattegat on the morning of 2 May. A U-Boat, the 234-ton type XXI U-2359, skippered by Bischoff was sunk. The 775-ton Minesweeper M.293 was sent to the bottom by the other squadrons while the Buffaloes stood guard overhead.
W/C EW 'Teddy' Pierce, 404 Squadron's last wartime Commanding Officer. (from original write up) "Wing Commander William Pierce, who is English, but in the RCAF. Wing Commander Pierce held a Commission pre war in the RAF Volunteer reserve and was in New York at the outbreak of the war employed in the produce exchange. He moved to Winnipeg and worked in the Grain Exchange there for six months and was accepted into the RCAF as a Pilot Officer. He joined the Buffalo squadron in 1941 when it was just forming and is on his second tour of operations with the Buffaloes. W/C Pierce trained at Toronto, Regina, Fort William and McCleod. He is married, his wife living in Brampton, Cumberland and his parents at Wimbledon, London. (PL 40764) The last Buffalo operation of the war was carried out on 4 May when W/C Pierce led seven of his Mosquitoes with 55 other aircraft of the Banff Strike Wing including 143, 235, 248 and 333 Squadrons to attack enemy shipping in the vicinity of Kiel. The squadrons struck across the North Sea to the Danish coast, crossed the peninsula to the Kattegat and then wheeled southwards. The first target sighted was a small R-Boat which four Buffalo crews, together with four from another squadron, riddled with cannon and rockets left a mass of burning debris.
Farther south, the strike force came upon a larger target, a convoy of seven vessels sailing in line astern - two merchant vessels estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 tons, a destroyer, a gunboat, a minesweeper and two auxiliaries. Their flak defences were of little avail as a determined attack by the aircraft inflicted severe damage on six vessels, which began to burn and smoke heavily. Only one of the auxiliaries escaped punishment. The aircraft went in on their targets to such a close range that one Mosquito returned with part of the mast and the ensign of the destroyer attached to it. One merchant vessel, the 3750-ton German Wolfgang LM Russ sunk, while the 998-ton Gunther Russ and 3540-ton Angamos were damaged.
The final days before the end of the war passed quietly. When the announcement of VE Day arrived at 404, there was no question in anybody's mind that this called for a party to end all parties. As noted in the Squadron Scrapbook, the festivities lasted for several days:
"Celebration on the station continue. Station bonfire and bags of pyrotechniques at night. Station dances - 404 boys launched repat ship Buffalo in the station emergency water supply pool. The boat was brilliantly lighted and crammed with flags and toilet paper and was launched with a fanfare of music after a long ceremonial march during which mechanized escort was provided. There seemed to be no lack of firewater on the camp. Station and squadron now goes on to a peacetime basis with Wed. PM, Sat. and Sun. off when possible. Squadron to be kept up to operational fitness in case required for the Far East (God forbid)."
On 13 May, F/O Savard phoned the Squadron from Bournemouth. He had been shot down on Black Friday and became a POW. "The Great Rog Savard, missing since February 9th, is safe! He was, according to advice received a Prisoner of War. Rog says he was in solitary confinement for 42 days in the Jug! Imagine Savard having no one to talk to but himself!" On 18 May he returned with their former CO, W/C Charles "Chuck" Willis, DFC. The latter, also an ex-POW had been shot down in March 1944. There was a station party the following day during which W/C Willis was presented with the large silver stein that he had caused to be made prior to being shot down. W/C Willis kept this stein, complete with the signatures of the aircrew in early 1944, and he personally presented it to 404 (MP&T) Squadron during the unit's 50th Anniversary ceremonies in 1991 at Greenwood, Nova Scotia.
S/L Bobby Schoales and F/L RA Jackson made the squadron's last sortie on 22 May when they escorted two squadrons of Norwegian Spitfires flying from Dyce to Stavanger and thence to Oslo. When their Mosquito returned to Banff on the evening of Victoria Day, the Buffalo's operational career ended.
During the last days of the Squadron's wartime history, there was still the matter of the conflict in the Far East. Late in 1944 and into '45, considerations had been made for the creation of the Tiger Force. 404 was initially slated to be kept together at war's end to participate as an air/sea rescue unit. This plan never came to fruition.
On 25 May, the squadron was officially disbanded. F/L KY Spencer, the squadron scribe, wrote these words about 404's final day into the ORB: "Today, 404 Squadron is to be officially disbanded.
"The writing is on the wall and it is supposed that most of us will go to some holding unit in this country and then - some to Germany - some to Burma and some us eventually - home. While we all go our different ways and the Buffalo Squadron bows to time and fate, the spirit and comradeship of all personnel that made it up and gave it a name unsurpassed in fighting annuals, will go on forever."