Andy Thomas charts 404 Squadron’s war and its transition from coastal strike to maritime patrol
THE WAY WE WERE 404 SQUADRON
A CP-140 Aurora operating out of Greenwood.
Fg Off Syd Shulemson after his victory over a Bv 138 off the Norwegian coast on his first ‘op’.
Formed on Britain’s south coast at Thorney Island on April 15, 1941, the men of 404 Squadron must have thought they had been banished when they were informed of their operational base. Led by Wg Cdr J P Woodruff, 404 was the first Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) unit in Coastal Command. Issued with Blenheim IVfs for the longrange coastal fighter role in June they flew to Castletown in the far north of Scotland.
