March 1942
On 3 March, a ground incident was described. "Had a very close call yesterday morning on "C". Mackenzie was running her up and the port oleo leg buckled letting the plane settle to the runway and as it settled down the prop started to cut into the runway of the dispersal and gouged out a big hole, then the strain was too great and the whole A(ir)/S(crew) assembly even the epicyclic gearing came away and the whole assembly started to spin through the air towards Doig and myself and just grazed us and then crashed to the ground behind us. As it hit the ground the three blades tore pieces out of the sod before coming to rest on the cylinder end of the V/P assembly ." The aircraft was written off due to the damage. The cause of the incident was that there we no locking devices on the undercarriage.
On 23 March, the squadron was purged of 19 aircrew to 143 Squadron.
Wireless Mechanics of 404 squadron of Coastal Command overseas check the aerial installation of one of the squadron's aircraft. (L to R) Cpl A Main and Cpl AL Buck. Note that the 'EE' below the cupola are the 404 Squadron Code, used early in the War. (PL 7695)
On 25 March, the squadron completed another move, this time returning from their foray in Sumburgh and returning to RAF Station Dyce in Scotland. The move had been ordered on thy 14th with the aircrew flying out five days later. For the next two months, action was sporadic with no successes to add to the squadron's score.
The Squadron's personnel totals for the end of March, 1942:
RCAF Aircrew Officers 13
RCAF Groundcrew Officers 4
RCAF Airmen 26
RCAF Groundcrew 142
RAF Aircrew Officers 7
RAF Groundcrew Officers 2
RAF Airmen 44
RAF Groundcrew 151
Total 389
It is interesting to note that the 541 (Details of Sorties Flown) for March is pretty much missing. This likely happened during the war, as there is a hand-written note in a margin of the ORB for the end of the month which states "The Central Stat Branch (London) gives 54 sorties for a total of 203 operational hours. KAC (initials) 5 Aug 46"
April 1942
During a sortie flown on 22 April, S/L Foster gave chase to an enemy aircraft while on a Navigation Exercise. S/L McHardy attacked and damaged a Ju.88, leaving one of the enemy aircraft's engines smoking. Five days later, F/L EW Pierce had a crack at a He.115 that was conducting mine-laying operations 150 miles off of the coast. It is not recorded if the attack was successful.
F/O George Burton (far left), Squadron Engineering Officer, observes a group of RAF 'erks' working on the port engine of a Blenheim. (PL 7693)
A year into the life of the squadron, the crews still found themselves flying the tired Blenheims. This fact rankled at the crews in that each time they faced air combat with the German fighters, knowing that they were vastly outmatched by the sleek Me.109s and powerful FW.190s. The concerns about flying what was originally designed to be a bomber aircraft in a Coastal Fighter role came to a head when W/C Woodruff wrote directly to Overseas Headquarters,
"Our Blenheims are rather old and, as you will realise, rather out of date. I am told that there are no Beaufighters to spare but have been given to believe that Mosquitoes are coming out fairly quickly now, and I feel the Fighter Mosquito would be considerably better for our job than the Beaufighter because of its superior maneuverability. My boys have done their best with the Blenheims and I feel that they are reaching the stage where they feel they should be supplied with more modern tools, i.e. Mosquitoes. If you could possibly do anything to hurry up our re-equipping I would indeed be grateful."
The Mosquito would not even be considered, at that time, as a suitable replacement aircraft for a Coastal Command squadron, even when a Commanding Officer demanded it. W/C Woodruff was not led down the garden path, though, and was told that the squadron was to be given high priority for replacement of the Blenheims by Beaufighters. Still, even with his urgent appeal for better aircraft, the squadron was to continue to fly outdated equipment for another four months.
In the same letter in which the CO was raising concerns about the Squadron being saddled with obsolete aircraft, the problem of the Canadian character of the unit was also noted. Many RAF personnel were released from the squadron without replacement, even though missions continued. Woodruff politely noted that 404 was seven crews under strength.
Squadron personnel as of April 1942:
RCAF Aircrew Officers 17
RCAF Groundcrew Officers 4
RCAF Airmen 20
RCAF Groundcrew 181
RAF Aircrew Officers 7
RAF Groundcrew Officers 1
RAF Airmen 35
RAF
Groundcrew 170
Total 435
