Dragoons

By Richard Dowson

Articles like the following were meant to boost morale. After two years of fighting, with little success, Governments needed to create the impression of HOPE. (407 Squadron RCAF is still Operational as a Long Range Patrol Squadron,19 Wing, Comox.)

From the Moose Jaw Times Herald, Tuesday, December 2, 1941

RCAF 407 Demon Squadron – Hudson Crew at the NAAFI Wagon – Imperial War Museum Photo

Moose Jaw Man with Important R.C.A.F Squadron

“The Scourge of Nazi Shipping” is the designation given by the British press to a Royal Canadian Air Force General Reconnaissance Operational Squadron.

“The squadron has certainly earned the high reputation it enjoys for on nearly every night its great Hudson machines are sweeping enemy seas, bombing and machine-gunning German convoys as they seek to shop along German, Dutch and Danish coasts under cover of darkness.

“The squadron’s reputation too, has been earned in a very short time. It has only been in operations for a matter of weeks, and in that short time, more than a dozen German ships have been hit.

“In command of their Squadron is Wing Commander H. M. Styles of the Royal Air Force and several Saskatchewan men are listed in the personnel. Mention is made in a dispatch from the Director of Overseas Press Relations, of the first of many offensives by one crew, made up of Sergeant Pilot R. G. Mullen of Canora, Saskatchewan, Pilot Officer R. E. Dann of Portage la Prairie (KIA January 22, 1942), and Air Gunner Sergeant R. D. Banter of Rosetown, Saskatchewan.

“They attacked a 2,000-ton German merchant vessel and a large burst indicated a direct hit. A few days later they attacked the leading vessel of eight ships, and the red glow on the sea that they saw as they flew off, indicated most possibly a hit.

“Other Saskatchewan men named as members of the air personnel of the squadron are: Pilot Officer B. R. Moore, Melfort, and Sergeant Pilot D. H. Brown of Macklin. “Saskatchewan men in the ground crew include one Moose Jaw airman, AC2 L. E. Turner, and AC2 A. H. Sunley, Fort San; AC2 J. A. Stewart, Daysville and AC2 G. B. Wilkes, Avonhurst.”

Footnotes to History

Censorship excluded the number and name of the squadron in the original article. In December 1941, four-man crews flew Lockheed Hudson bomber aircraft on Coastal Patrol and carried either bombs or four depth charges.

The men whose name appeared in this article, all survived the War except Pilot Roland Edison Dann (J/4327) from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.

Pilot Officer R. E. Dann of Portage la Prairie was killed in a horrific accident, January 22, 1941.

FOR THOSE WHO LEAVE NEVER TO RETURN. FOR THOSE WHO RETURN BUT ARE NEVER THE SAME. we remember

THERE IS NO GREATER SACRIFICE THAN THAT FOR ANOTHER...THANK YOU.