Motto: MEDIA NOX MERIDES NOSTER (Midnight is our noon)
Badge: Argent in front of a cloak Azure a crossbow Or
Battle Honours: Defence of Britain 1941-44, Fortress Europe 1942-44, France and Germany 1944-45, Normandy 1944, Rhine.
History
409 Night Fighter Squadron was created in England on 17 June 1941, and remained in England until 24 August 1944 when the unit moved to France. July 1945 saw the squadron disbanded in the Netherlands.
In November 1954, 409 All Weather Fighter Squadron was re-formed at RCAF Station Comox where they flew aircraft on North American Air Defence Duty, later NORAD, on the west coast. In February 1968, 409 was integrated into the Canadian Armed Forces as an air defence squadron and in 1984 the unit then moved to Cold lake Alberta. Designated as 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron and re-equipped with CF-18 Hornet aircraft, the Squadron was the first operational CF-18 Squadron.
June 1985 saw the Squadron move to Baden, Germany as part of NATO. In October 1990 the Nighthawks deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Friction, the Canadian contribution to Operation Desert Shield/Storm. The squadron was disbanded at Baden, Germany in 1991 and reformed back at Comox as 409 Combat Support Squadron in 1993, and subsequently disbanded in July 1994. 409 TFS was re-formed from the consolidation of 416 and 441 Squadrons on Jul 6 2006 at Cold Lake.
Information Source: Canadian Forces History 400-Series Squadrons (http://www.airforce.forces.ca/hist/409sqn_e.asp)
