No 431 Squadron RCAF Crest Badge
Item
Title
No 431 Squadron RCAF Crest Badge
Description
Squadron Badge for 431 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force Iroquois Indian's head appliqued/embroidered in centre Motto "The Hatiten Ronteriios" (Iroquois for Warriors of the Air) embroidered on bottom. Badge is attached to red felt in wooden presentation box/frame.
Identifier
015.077.002
Provenance
Rear Gunner Sgt. J. Williamson R186239 was crew on Halifax Bomber #LK898 which took off from Croft Air Base in England on the night of December 3, 1943 to destroy Ball Bearing plants in Leipzig, Germany. LK898 was attacked over Liepzig by German night fighters. It was on fire, exploded and crased. There were no survivors. No. 431 Squadron was formed on 11 November 1942 with Vickers Wellington Mk Xs as part of No.4 Group, Bomber Command, and commenced night raids on 2 May 1943. In July the squadron moved to Tholthorpe, joining No. 6 (RCAF) Bomber Group and re-equipping with Handley Page Halifax Mk Vs. At the end of 1943 the squadron moved again, to Croft in County Durham, where it began to re-equip with Halifax Mk IIIs in March 1944, maintaining the operation offensive all the while. There were used for seven months until the production of Canadian built Avro Lancaster Mk Xs was sufficient to enable the squadron the re-equip with this type. Lancasters were used for the remainder of the Second Warld War in Europe, the last of the squadron's 3,000 or more sorties being flown with them on 25 April 1945 in a daylight raid on Wangerooge. In June 1945 the squadron crossed the Atlantic to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and disbanded on 5 September 1945. The squadron was eventually reformed April 1, 1978 as 431 Air Demonstration Squadron the "Snowbirds".