page_title: 405 Maritime Patrol Squadron
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 405 Maritime Patrol Squadron / Service history / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Armourers check over a mixed bomb load of three 1,000-lb MC bombs and small bomb containers (SBCs) filled with 30-lb incendiary bombs, loaded into the bomb-bay and wing cells of a Handley Page Halifax Mark II of No. 405 Squadron RCAF at Pocklington, Yorkshire.
context_page_description: 405 Long Range Patrol Squadron is a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force within the Canadian Forces, initially formed as No. 405 Squadron RCAF during the Second World War.
context_section_description: No. 405 Squadron RCAF was formed at Driffield, Yorkshire, on 23 April 1941 as an Article XV squadron and equipped with the Vickers Wellington bomber. It flew the RCAF's first bombing operation ten weeks later on 12/13 June, attacking the railway marshalling yards at Schwerte. It converted to the Handley Page Halifax in April 1942, taking part in the historic 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne on the night of 30/31 May 1942.
  In late October 1942, the squadron was loaned to Coastal Command to fly anti-submarine patrols in the Bay of Biscay at the time of the North African landings.
  Returning to Bomber Command at the beginning of March 1943, the squadron flew with No. 6 Group RCAF for short time before being selected for the elite No. 8 (Pathfinder) Group based at Gransden Lodge Airfield, with which it served until the end of the war. Through the last 20 months of the bomber offensive the squadron was equipped with the Avro Lancaster.
  The squadron's last operational mission took place on 25 April 1945 when nine Lancasters bombed the Berghof, and four aircraft bombed enemy gun batteries on island of Wangerooge. The squadron was disbanded on 5 September 1945.
caption: Armourers check over a mixed bomb load of three 1,000 lb MC bombs and small bomb containers (SBCs) filled with 30 lb incendiary bombs, loaded into the bomb-bay and wing cells of a Handley Page Halifax Mark II of 405 Squadron RCAF at RAF Pocklington, England
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