Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: What was the first war that the No. 428 Squadron RCAF participated in?
No. 428 Squadron RCAF,[2] also known as 428 Bomber Squadron,[3] and 428 Ghost Squadron,[4] was first a night bomber squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force engaged in strategic bombing during World War II, as based in Yorkshire.[3] At the end of the war the squadron moved to Nova Scotia before being disbanded in September 1945. In 1954 the squadron was reformed as 428 All-Weather (Fighter) Squadron, before being again disbanded in 1961.[3]
A further four squadrons served outside North America during the war: No. 162 Squadron RCAF, which in 1944 was transferred from RCAF Eastern Air Command to RAF Coastal Command, from airfields in Iceland and Scotland and; three Air Observation Post (AOP; artillery spotter) squadrons, composed of RCAF and Royal Canadian Artillery personnel: No. 664 Squadron RCAF; No. 665 Squadron RCAF and; No. 666 Squadron RCAF.
The airfield began its life as Royal Air Force Goosepool, and in 1941 became RAF Middleton St. George when the aerodrome opened under the auspices of Bomber Command. Whilst the nearest settlement was Middleton St George, the station acquired the Goosepool after the nearby farm. In 1943 it was allocated to No. 6 Group, Royal Canadian Air Force. A sub-station was located at RAF Croft, Yorkshire. Squadrons based here include: 76 Squadron, which flew Handley Page Halifaxes, 78 Squadron, which flew Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys, 419 Squadron RCAF, which flew Vickers Wellingtons, Halifaxes, and Avro Lancasters, 420 Squadron RCAF, which flew Wellingtons, and 428 Squadron RCAF, which flew Wellingtons, Halifaxes, and Lancasters.
W/C E.W. Smith DSO was appointed Officer Commanding No.428 All-Weather (Fighter) Squadron on 4 January 1955 and served in that post until 26 April 1957, having previously made a transition from heavy bombers and strategic transport aircraft, to jet fighters. Born in Metis Beach QC, on 11 November 1920, he joined the RCAF on 20 July 1940, selected for pilot training, he earned his wings in February 1941 and went overseas in March 1941. He completed two operational tours, first with No.102 (Ceylon) Squadron RAF, and a second with No.424 (Tiger) Squadron RCAF.[50]
In January 1950, he captained the No. 412 (Composite) Squadron C-5 Canadair North Star (DC-4 M1 7518) making the first RCAF round-the-world flight. Covering 43,000 kilometres, it transported then Secretary of State for External Affairs Minister Lester B. Pearson, and Governor-General Field Marshall Viscount Harold Alexander, to the Commonwealth Conference of Foreign Ministers, held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), from 9–14 January 1950.[55] After commanding 428 AW(F) Squadron, he took up command of the relocated No.3 All-Weather (Fighter) Operational Training Unit then at RCAF Station Cold Lake.[56][57]
No. 416 Squadron RCAF was formed at RAF Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1941 as a fighter squadron for service during the Second World War and was based at various RAF stations in Scotland, England and continental Europe. The squadron was disbanded in March 1946. 
The squadron was reformed in 1952 at RCAF Uplands in Ottawa, Ontario for operations in Europe as part of Canada's Cold War presence. The squadron was located at Grostenquin, France. By 1957, the squadron was relocated to Canada at RCAF St Hubert near Montreal as an air defence squadron flying Avro Canada CF-100 all weather fighters. In 1962, the CF-100s were replaced with the CF-101 Voodoo and the squadron was moved to RCAF Chatham, New Brunswick, where they flew the interceptor until the end of 1984. 416 Squadron thus became the world's last front-line unit flying Voodoos.
As an RCAF Air Defence Command Fighter Squadron, 428 AW(F) was allocated to No.3 ADCC Operational Sector, its Operational Control Centre located at RCAF Station Edgar ON. No.3 ADCC coordinated the operations of No. 31 Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron (also located at RCAF Station Edgar), No. 32 AC&W Squadron at RCAF Station Foymount ON, No. 33 AC&W Sqn at RCAF Station Falconbridge ON, No. 34 AC&W Sqn at RCAF Station Senneterre QC, and 912 Squadron (USAF) at RCAF Station Ramore ON. Responsive to the Sector Commander, the Fighter Control Operators at No.3 ADCC provided the squadron's 'Ground-Controlled Interception' direction, through the signing of the NORAD Agreement in 1958.[40]
Given the serious nature of the Cold War, everything that flew into the Canadian Northern Air Defence Region had to be detected and identified within two minutes by RCAF or USAF Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron personnel. If an aircraft was unknown at two minutes, fighters were scrambled to intercept, to find out why the aircraft could not be identified, to force it to land, or to shoot it down. Receiving interception notification from No.3 ADCC at RCAF Stn Edgar, 428 AW(F) fighters, on Alert Status, were airborne within five minutes, when under reduced status 15 minutes, and one hour was permitted. To meet the standard, and when on exercise, squadron aircraft with alert crews were positioned fuelled and armed, 24 hours a day/seven days a week, in special Quick Reaction Alert hangars. [41]
The RCAF had established a presence at the Uplands (Ottawa) Airport, in August 1940, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, as No. 2 Service Flying Training School began operations.[31] With the war ending, No.2 SFTS closed on 14 April 1945, the Station became home to Headquarters RCAF Maintenance Command, and when Maintenance Command relocated, in 1947, RCAF association with the site ceased.[32] RCAF flying activities resumed at Uplands, with the re-activation of several WW2 fighter squadrons, they designated again for service in Europe. No.439 Squadron was first re-formed in September 1951, at Uplands, as was No.416 Squadron, in September 1952, both departing for in Europe in 1953, they flying the F86 Sabre.[33]
For the final phase of the air campaign against Germany, the squadron took part in day and night raids,[8] with its last operational sortie taking place on April 25, 1945, when 15 Lancasters bombed anti-aircraft gun batteries defending the mouth of the Weser, on the Frisian Island of Wangerooge.[4] No. 428 Squadron RCAF remained in service in the United Kingdom until the end of May 1945.[9]
Remaining in the postwar RCAF, he first served with the RCAF Test and Evaluation (Establishment), where he flew the original "Rockcliffe Ice Wagon" (RY-3 Liberator) and commanded the RCAF Hadrian Glider Detachment with Operation MUSKOX – the first Canadian to pilot a glider above the Arctic Circle.[51] As the first RCAF Exchange Officer to serve in USAF Air Transport Command, he captained both a 20 and 27 mission C-54 Skymaster deployment in the Berlin Airlift, and, later with the USAF, captained both the morning B-17 (Flying Fortress) Drone Test Flight and the evening B-17 Mother (Drone), on May 14, 1948, supporting 'Operation Sandstone' – Test Three 'Zebra' at the Pacific Proving Grounds, at Eniwetok-Atoll.[52][53][54]
In January 1944, Halifax bombers from No. 428 Squadron participated in the first high-level mining raid "Gardening", when mines were dropped by parachute from 15,000 feet (4,570 m) over Brest on 4/5 Jan and Saint-Nazaire on 6/7 Jan 1945.[7] The squadron flew its last sortie with the Halifax on June 12, 1944,[8] then converting to the Canadian-built Avro Lancaster (B. Mark X), the first sortie taking place on June 14, 1944.[8]
No. 127 Wing RCAF was a formation of the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. It comprised No. 403 Squadron RCAF, No. 416 Squadron RCAF and No. 443 Squadron RCAF.
Hull joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and, after graduating from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1939, served in World War II as a bomber pilot with 420 squadron and then 428 Squadron before becoming Senior Operations Controller of No. 6 Group RCAF in 1944. He became Commanding Officer of RCAF Clinton in 1947, Base Commander and commander of No. 3 (Fighter) Wing at Zweibrücken and Chief of Staff of Air Defence Command in 1962. He went on to be Air Officer Commanding Air Defence Command and then Air Officer Commanding Air Transport Command before becoming Vice Chief of the Defence Staff in 1972 and retiring in 1974. He died in April 2012.
Having reached 'FOC' the challenge to an AW(F) Squadron was maintaining 'operational effectiveness' with the constant of change in crews and aircraft. Individual crews, on two week rotations, got evaluated at 'Rocket Camps' run at the RCAF Weapons Practice Unit (WPU) at RCAF Station Cold Lake, and their best tested at the Annual WPU 'Rocket Meet' – 428 AW(F) winning the MacBrien Trophy (Team Effort) in 1958.[36] Local, Regional and Continental Exercises in COCKED PISTOL, CRACKER JACK and SKYSHIELD tested the squadron, its Wing and its ADDC Sector.[37] A favourite CGI exercise involved simulated combat scrambles against the USAF Boeing B-47 Stratojet, it then the backbone of the USAF Strategic Air Command, in their 'Returning to Base', everyone wanting an MA – Mission Accomplished and not the MI – Mission Incomplete designation.[38][39]
By the middle of June the squadron had moved to RCAF Station Yarmouth in Nova Scotia, where it was disbanded on September 5, 1945.[3][10] 428 Squadron was "sponsored" by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, a Canadian national women's charitable organization based in Toronto in Ontario, Canada.[5]
Assuming re-equipping, with a reduced number of aircraft (100) through the CF-105 Arrow program, the RCAF scheduled the phasing out of its older CF 100 squadrons, less those stationed in Europe. Though, designated first to go 425 'Alouette' Squadron (St Hubert) would only be deactivated, and so 428 'Ghost' Squadron was disbanded on 31 May 1961. As the first designated CF-100 squadron to be withdrawn without re-equipping, having no WW2 fighter heritage, it was not identified to receive the new CF-105 or the used American F-101s.[61][63][64] As a precursor to all CF-100 operational 'fighter' flying ending in December 1962, there would be no Canadian CF-105s (Feb 1959) and the alternative American F-101B Voodoo (Jul 1961) program (acquiring only 56 operational aircraft) would see five all-weather interceptor squadrons, replace the nine all-weather fighter squadrons. They were later reduced to three in 1964.[65][66]
RAF Dalton, Hambleton was home to No. 102 Squadron beginning in November 1941. No. 102 Squadron returned to Topcliffe in June 1942 and for a time Dalton hosted No. 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) flying Halifaxes. The airfield was improved in 1942 and in early 1943 was allocated to No. 6 Group Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Canadian squadrons stationed here at one time or another included No. 428 Squadron, No. 424 Squadron, No. 420 Squadron, and No. 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit (which moved to RAF Wombleton in October 1943). The station also housed no. 1691 Bomber Gunnery Flight (BGF) RCAF and its successor, No. 1695 Bomber Defence Training Flight (BDTF) RCAF, the last RCAF unit to serve at this station.
By late 1944, the RCAF Overseas leadership became committed to provisional planning of a (very) long-range heavy bomber force being considered for a post-Europe deployment, to the Far East.[19] Code-named 'Tiger Force' it was to operate from the Okinawa Islands, and in its final design assemble two groups, each of eight RAF and RCAF squadrons, to include No. 428 Squadron.[20] Formation orders issued, the designated Canadian squadrons were to re-equip with newer Avro Lancaster Mk. Xs, of the RAF owned FM and KB series.[21] When released from No.6 Group, 428 Squadron journeyed via Lagens, on Terceira Island, The Azores, to Gander, Newfoundland and onto Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, making a singular mark on the way. Of 165 Tiger Force Lancasters dispatched, 164 made the crossing, whereas on June 4, 1945, Lancaster KB764 No. 428 Squadron approaching Lagens, having previously lost its port outer engine and then its port inner engine, power completely asymmetric, crashed 3km (1.9mi) out to sea. "No trouble was experienced in leaving the aircraft", wrote Flight Lieutenant Elihu Paul Acree.[22]
On 7 Nov 1942, he assumed command of No 428 (RCAF) Squadron, standing up the squadron in No. 4 Group. As the OC, it was noted that "Wing Commander Earle was a grand chap, one who can genuinely be called, 'One of Nature's Gentlemen'. He was well liked by the Canadians and sadly missed when he left on promotion to group captain in February 1943. He flew two operations from Dalton, occupying the astro-dome. He had previously been flying Fairey Gordons in the Middle East (Iraq), and found the Wellington difficult, partly due to his eyesight not liking the English skies, and partly as he was not a tall man." After only three months, he left 428 Bomber Squadron (RCAF) as an acting group captain on 7 Feb 1943, when he was assigned as the station commander of RAF Ridgewell and then RAF West Wickham, late in 1943, then as a temporary group captain. He ended the war as Air Officer Commanding No. 300 Group RAF (RAF Transport Command) in Australia.[14][17]
Possibly the youngest member of aircrew to be killed serving with an operational bomber squadron is Flight Sergeant Edward James Wright Royal Canadian Air Force who was killed aboard an Avro Lancaster of No. 428 Squadron RCAF on 30 April 1945 apparently aged 16.
In its short history there were three Commanding Officers of 428 AW(F) Squadron W/C E.W.Smith DSO from 04.01.1955 to 26.04.1957, S/L P.F. Greenway from 24.04.1957 to 23.04.1959 and W/C M.F. Doyle from 24.04.1959 to 01.06.1961, who would go on to command 410 AW(F) Squadron and later 1 Cdn Air Group in 1970.[49]
Following World War II the squadron was split up with the detachment at Dartmouth becoming No. 426 Squadron RCAF and the detachment at Edmonton becoming No. 435 Squadron RCAF. Both squadrons still operate as transport squadrons with the Canadian Forces
In addition, No. 419 Squadron RCAF and No. 428 Squadron RCAF were disbanded in Yarmouth in September 1945 after the Surrender of Japan. Both squadrons, flying the Avro Lancaster, were to be trained and re-equipped for the Commonwealth Tiger Force in the Pacific Theatre.
No. 428 Squadron RCAF was the ninth long-range heavy bomber Article XV squadron formed overseas during the Second World War at RAF Dalton in Yorkshire, England on November 7, 1942.[3][5] The squadron was initially assigned to No. 4 Group RAF.[2] With the creation of No. 6 Group RCAF, the squadron was reallocated on January 1, 1943 operating with it until April 25, 1945.[2]