No. 427 Squadron RCAF

Motto: "Ferte Manus Certas" ("Strike with a sure hand").
Badge: In front of a maple leaf a lion rampant. The combination of a lion representing England and a maple leaf representing Canada indicates the formation of this RCAF squadron in England.
Authority: King George VI, October 1943.

No. 427 Squadron was formed at Croft, County Durham, on 7th November 1942, and operated briefly with No. 4 Group before being assigned to No. 6 (RCAF) Group on 1st January 1943. Equipped originally with Wellington IIIs, the squadron had re-equipped with Wellington Xs by the end of March 1943, and continued to operate with the Mark X until 28/29th April. Early in May 1943, when the squadron moved to Leeming, its home for the next three years, it began to re-equip with Halifax Vs, which type it flew on operations for eight months before changing to Halifax IIIs. On 2nd/3rd March 1945; came No. 427's last sorties on Halifax IIIs and about a week later, on 11th March, its Lancaster Is and IIIs received their operational baptism. With the Lancaster the squadron wound up its operations against the enemy.

Bomber Command WWII Bases:
Formed 7.11.42 as No. 427 (Bomber) Squadron at:

• Croft : Nov 1942-May 1943
• Leeming : May 1943 onwards

Bomber Command WWII Aircraft:

• Vickers Wellington III and X : Nov 1942-May 1943
• Handley Page Halifax B.V and B.III : May 1943-Mar 1945
• Avro Lancaster B.I and B.III : Mar 1945 onwards

Code Letters:

• "ZL".

First Operational Mission in WWII:

• 14th December 1942 - 1 Wellington laid mines in Frisian Islands area.

Last Operational Mission in WWII:

• 25th April 1945 - 9 Lancasters bombed gun positions on island of Wangerooge & another Lancaster bombed buildings on island of Spiekerooge due to mistaken identity.

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