403 Squadron

403 Squadron, located at the CFB Gagetown Heliport (Griffon Field), is a 1 Wing unit of 1 Canadian Air Division. It is responsible for training all CH-146 Griffon pilots and flight engineers in the Canadian Forces.

403 (Fighter) Squadron was formed at Baginton Warwickshire, England on 1 March 1941. It was the first Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force formed overseas under Article 15 of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The Squadron performed with distinction during World War II flying Tomahawks and Supermarine Spitfires logging 17,728 operational flying hours in addition to over 13,000 non-operational and training hours.

The City of Calgary became 403 Squadron's postwar home from 1948 to 1964 when it disbanded for the second time. In 1968, the Squadron was reactivated at Petawawa as a training Squadron equipped with CUH-1H helicopters. In July 1972, it was given the exclusive role of training all aircrew and technical crews for the tactical helicopter and rescue Squadrons. To accomplish this new role, the flying portion of the Squadron was relocated to CFB Gagetown.

403 Squadron experienced four major establishment increases during the 1979-1983 period. The first of these was the assumption of responsibility for its own second-line maintenance previously carried out by 2 Aircraft Field Maintenance Squadron in Ottawa. The second was the addition of a tactical flight upon the deactivation of 422 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in August 1980. The third was the formation of an Air Ground Operations School (AGOS). This latter addition is tasked with the development, evaluation and teaching of tactical air and aviation doctrine. The fourth addition was the 10 TAG Detachment Gagetown Air Traffic Control Unit and the assumption of Air Traffic services at CFB Gagetown.

In July 1990, the Squadron developed a closer relationship with the Air Reserves when the CFB Gagetown Detachment of the CFB Chatham Air Reserve Augmentation Flight (ARAF) took up residence in the Squadron. They have since become an integral flight within the Squadron.

In August 1992, the Squadron once again underwent establishment changes. This time the tactical flight was disbanded to provide an increase in instructor pilots and to permit the formation of the Land Aviation Test and Evaluation Flight (LATEF). This new organization has been formed to conduct, on behalf of 1 Wing, operational and tactical testing of land aviation helicopter systems and support equipment and to propose operational and tactical doctrine where applicable.

403 Squadron retired the CH136 Kiowa and CH135 Twin Huey just before delivery of their replacement, the CH146 Griffon, which arrived in early 1995. A state of the art simulator for this new aircraft was recently constructed to aid in the training of the pilots. In addition AGOS, was renamed Aviation Tactics Flight (ATF), to better reflect its role within 1 Wing, and as part of 403 Squadron.