242 RCAF in BOF

[VonWaffen]

Well
On 3 nov 39 Squadron leader Fowler Morgan Gobeil receive the first of his new command 242 Squadron air crew in the form of his 2 flight commanders. They were flight lt Donald R miller of Saskatoon , Saskatchewan and John L Sullivan of Guelph,Ontario .Both of whom had joined the RAF in 1936...These two were soon followed by flying officer John W Graaffstra of Souris , Manitoba and pilot officer Robert D Grassick of London Ontario....
On 6 nov 39 the squadron was deluged with new air crew arrival,the vast majority of the unit's initial complement.
F/O Lorne E Chambers of Vernom,British Colombia
P/O Marvin K Brown of Kincardine ,Ontario
Arthure H Deacon ,Dale F Jones ,Hugh L Niccolls ,Joseph B Smiley and Rusell H Wiens, All prairie boys from Sasskachewan. John B Latta of Victoria ,British Colombia , William L McKnight of Calgary, Alberta Donald G McQueen of High River ,Alberta
Garfileld A Madore of Fort William,Ontario and James W Mitchell from Winfield ,British Colombia.
The next days brought F/O Richard Coe of Winfield ,British Colombia, and finally on 20 nov the last 3 of initial cadre of pilot reported:P/O James F Howitt from Guelph,Ontario
Percival Stanley Turner from Toronto,Ontario and William A Waterton from Camrose,Alberta
So all Canadian squadron here...
On 14 may F/L Sullivan with P/O Grassick , McKnight and Turner in tow as 242's contribution to the reinforcement effort , was sent to Vitry en Artois...
they return to Britain on 19 may for week 's leave and rest

On 17 may as part of new deployment plan "A" flight of 242 squadron was send to Lille/seclin commanded by F/L Miller and consisting of F/O Chambers and P/O Brown , Deacon , McQueen and Wiens

In a brief two day of combat , the flight had lost almost half their number , one KIA and other wonded , though their loss rate was generally representational of other RAF Hurricane squadron on deployment.
During their next visit to France, things would be significantly different .They return to England on 20 may
On 21 may ,along with Gobeil and the rest of 242,who were on stand by at Church Fentom were ordered forward to RAF Bigging Hill. 242 Squadron add its first offensive patrol on the 22 with 2 confirmed kills
In late june 242 was regrouping at Coltishall in Norfolk ,Squadron Leader Gobeil return to Canada
On 24 june RAF Squadron Leader Douglas Robert Steward Bader arrived to take command of the Squadron

Like you can see many of RAF unit s was in fact Canadian and other commonwealth country unit's , sometime lead by RAF Squadron leader as J E (Johnnie) Johnson who was leading a other well know Canadian Squadron and even Canadian Squadron leader leading all british RAF unit's...Even at the beginning of the war the RAF unit's was a amalgam of many country......... 242 Squadron was most of the time 80 to 90% RCAF
Cheers
Eric
National Defence RCAF
CFB St Jean Qc Canada