417 Combat Support Squadron
417e Escadron de soutien au combat (French)
Active	1941–1945 1947–1949 1968–1983 1993–present
Country	Canada
Branch	Royal Canadian Air Force
Type	Combat support
Size	One squadron
Part of	4 Wing
Garrison/HQ	CFB Cold Lake
Motto(s)	Supporting liberty and justice
Battle honours	Defence of Britain, 1942 Egypt and Libya, 1942–1943 North Africa, 1943 Sicily, 1943 Italy, 1943–1945 Salerno Anzio and Nettuno Gustav Line Gothic Line
Website	canada.ca/en/air-force/corporate/squadrons/417-squadron.html
Commanders
Honorary colonel	Kendra Kincade
Insignia
Identification symbol	Argent in front of a palm tree Or eradicated a sword Argent and fasces Gules in saltire
Aircraft flown
Transport	CH-146 Griffon

417 Combat Support Squadron (French: 417^e Escadron de soutien au combat) is an Air Force unit with the Canadian Forces. Based at CFB Cold Lake it provides helicopter support to the base operations. Since 1994, it has also provided search and rescue.

417 Squadron was a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron formed in England on 27 November 1941 at RAF Charmy Down and was known as the "City of Windsor" squadron.^[1] It was equipped with the Hurricane and later the Spitfire. It was initially deployed in Egypt and followed the Allied advance through the Western Desert. On 10 July 1943 when the Allies invaded Sicily (Operation Husky), the squadron was part of No. 244 Wing RAF in No. 211 Group RAF.^[2]

With the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa, the squadron followed the advance through Italy. It disbanded in Italy on 1 July 1945.

The squadron reactivated in Canada on 1 June 1947, at Rivers, Manitoba. It was equipped with the North American P-51 Mustang for army close support training until 1 August 1948.

Reformed as a part of the Canadian Forces in 1970 it operated as an operational training squadron on the Lockheed CF-104 Starfighter at CFB Cold Lake. The squadron disbanded in 1983 with the retirement of the CF-104 fleet.

On 1 April 1993, No 417 Combat Support squadron was formed from CFB Cold Lake Base Flight plus aircraft servicing and maintenance elements of the Wing Maintenance organization. The squadron continued Base Flight's operations with ten Canadair CT-133 Silver Star and three CH-118 Iroquois. When Base Rescue Moose Jaw was disbanded in 1993, 417 Squadron gained two of their CH-118s, to operate a total of five.

In July 1995 417 Squadron received three CH-146 Griffon helicopters and the five CH-118s were retired. The CT-133 was retired in 2001.^[3]

• 
  Mark VC Spitfires of No. 417 Squadron RCAF at Goubrine Airfield, Tunisia, May 1943.
• 
  Canadair CT-133 Silver Stars from 417 (Combat Support) Squadron.
• 
  417 Operational Training Squadron CF-104 Starfighter on deployment to CFB Moose Jaw in 1982.
• 
  Base Flight Cold Lake CH-118 Iroquois helicopter 118103 at CFB Cold Lake, January 1992.
• 
  CH 118 Huey from 417 (Combat Support) Squadron.
• 
  The first CH-146 Griffon arrives at 417 Sqn, on the flight line with the CH-118s it is to replace.
• 
  417 Sqn's first CH-146 Griffon, serial number 146414, arrived on 6 July 1995.

• 
  417 Combat Support Squadron official badge 1993
• 
  417 Combat Support Squadron Rescue Flight badge 1993
• 
  417 Combat Support Squadron T-33 Flight aircraft type badge 1993
• 
  417 Combat Support Squadron unofficial badge worn by all members 1993
• 
  Base Flight Cold Lake badge 1990

417 Squadron is affiliated with 395 Edmonton "Griffon" Squadron Royal Canadian Air Cadets, in Edmonton, Alberta. This affiliation began in 1993, with annual "Griffon Coin Parades" being hosted every year between the two units.^[4]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 417 Squadron RCAF.

• Official website
• Canada's Air Force: 417 "City of Windsor" Combat Support Squadron

v t e Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons
Squadron numbers	Pre-WWII Squadrons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 18 100-series squadrons 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 145 147 149 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 170 WW2 400-series Article XV squadrons 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 WW2 600-series AOP squadrons1 664 665 666 Post-war squadrons 103 444 445 446 447 448 449 450
Squadron codes	WW2 Canada 1 August 1939 - May 1942 AY BK BT DM EX FD FY JY KA KO LT MX NA OP OY PB QN RE TM XE XO YO ZD Unit formation in 1940 - May 1942 AN BF GK GV LU PO QE TQ RA Dartmouth Hurricanes 1942 1 or 2 1 or 2 1 or 2 May 1942 - 16 October 1942 AE AF AG AN AZ BA BD BV DE DZ EA ED EN ET FG FN GA GR HA HJ JK KL LM LR LV LZ MA MK MR NO PQ QG RA RS SZ TF TN UV UY VD VW XP XY YA YH YZ ZM ZR WW2 Overseas 1940-1946 Operational squadrons AB AE AL AN AU AW BM BX 2I CI DB DG DH DN EE EQ 5V FD F3 6U GX G9 HU I8 9G KH KP KW LQ NA ND NH OW PT QB QL QO QY RA RR RU RV SE SP SW TH VR VZ WL YI YO YZ ZL ZU Z2 Transport squadrons OWL2 ODM ODN ODO Post-WW2 1947 - 1958 1947 - 1951 (VCXXA)3 AA AB AC AD AG AH AK AM AN AO AP AQ AT AU AW AX BA BC BN BQ BU XV 1951 - 1958 (XXnnn)4 AF AM AN AP AQ AS AX BA BB BH BQ BR BT BU BV DL FG GW HG HO IG JF JW KE KH LP MN NQ PF PR QP QT RX SA SP SV TF UD VN XK XV
1 Aircraft administered and serviced by the RCAF but manned by the Royal Canadian Artillery. 2 Non-standard code as unit using OW added L. Letters normally denoted parent Command, aircraft type (L Liberator transport, D Dakota etc), unit, and individual aircraft. 3 VCXXA where VC was the civil code used by the RCAF replacing CF-, XX was the unit code and A was the aircraft ID letter 4 XXnnn where XX was the unit code and nnn was the last 3 digits of the serial number. Unit code was replaced with "RCAF" in 1958