No. 115 Squadron RCAF
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| No. 115 Squadron RCAF | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 1941-1944 |
| Disbanded | 23 August 1944 |
| Country |  Canada |
| Branch | .svg){kind=small} Royal Canadian Air Force |
| Role | Bomber Reconnaissance |
| Nickname(s) | Lynx |
| Motto(s) | BEWARE |
| Battle honours | Pacific Coast 1942-44 |
No. 115 Squadron was a Royal Canadian Air Force Canadian Home War Establishment (HWE) Squadron that operated during World War II.
No. 115 Squadron flew anti-submarine patrols along the coasts of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska as part of Western Air Command.
On 7 July 1942, Flight Sergeant PMG W. E. Thomas and the crew of Bristol Bolingbroke maritime patrol aircraft No. 9118 sighted a target breaking the surface and emitting white "smoke" in the Pacific Ocean 130 kilometres (70 nmi; 81 mi) northwest of the Queen Charlotte Islands.[1] At first thinking it was a whale, they quickly concluded that they could see the underwater silhouette of submarine at least 100 feet (30 m) in length and attacked, dropping a single 250-pound (113 kg)[2] or 500-pound (227 kg)[1] (sources disagree) bomb from an altitude of 500 feet (152 m) which landed just forward of the submarine's conning tower.[1] They claimed to have damaged the submarine.[1] Based on the Bolingbroke's report, the United States Coast Guard cutter USCGC McLane (WSC-146), the U.S. Coast Guard-crewed United States Navy patrol vessel USS YP-251, and the Royal Canadian Navy minesweeper HMCS Quatsino proceeded to the area on 9 July 1942 and began a search for the submarine, which McLane and YP-251 claimed to sink later that day.[1][3] The Bolingbroke crew shared credit with McLane and YP-251 for the sinking, and in 1947 the Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee identified their victim as the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine Ro-32.[4] In 1967, however, the U.S. Navy retracted this assessment because Ro-32 had been inactive in Japan at the time of the sinking and was found afloat in Japan at the end of the war.[4] The submarine reportedly sunk on 9 July 1942 remains unidentified.[4][note 1]
No. 115 Squadron disbanded at Tolfino, British Columbia, in August 1944.[5]
Equipment
- Bristol Bolingbroke I (August - December 1941)
- Bristol Bolingbroke IV (November 1941 - August 1943)
- Lockheed Ventura GR.V (August 1943 - August 1944)
The squadron's two-letter squadron code was BK from August 1939 to May 1942, then UV until the RCAF HWE discontinued the use of squadron codes on 16 October 1942 "for security reasons".[6]
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