438 "City of Montreal" Tactical Helicopter Squadron (French: ) is a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The squadron operates the Bell CH-146 Griffon tactical helicopter from the Hartland de Montarville Molson Hangar of CFB St. Hubert in Quebec, Canada. Its tasks include armed and unarmed tactical utility transport, training aircrew personnel in basic and advanced aviation tactics, technical training of groundcrew personnel and flight engineers and the periodic maintenance of CH-146 fleet aircraft. They also include as residual capabilities search and rescue, reconnaissance and support to federal, provincial and local law enforcement agencies. A "total force" unit composed of members of the Regular Force, and both full time and part time reservists, the squadron is part of 1 Wing at CFB Kingston Ontario.

The unit badge is the wildcat and described in heraldic terms as: "d'Argent, the head of a wildcat affront Gules, langued Azure". The wildcat was chosen as the emblem as it represents the squadron's nickname. It will initially have an authorized strength of 66 members and will be under the temporary administrative command of Squadron Leader C.E. Trudeau, a regular member personally recommended by Brigadier-General Gibsone. until 31 March 1940 when they moved to RCAF Station Dartmouth.

After nearly a year of coastal sweeps, the occasional patrol for convoys close inshore, dive-bombing exercises with army batteries and naval anti-aircraft gunners, air gunnery training and aerial photographic duties, the squadron was temporarily deactivated on 27 September 1940 pending redesignation and the arrival of more modern aircraft. For these reasons, 50 Canadian built Sea Hurricanes destined for the British Royal Navy were retained in Canada. Two fighter and light bomber wings were formed for service on the Pacific coast, X and Y Wings composed of Kittyhawk fighters and Bristol Bolingbroke light bombers under the RCAF Western Air Command. 118 Sqn and 115 Squadron formed Y Wing. They arrived on 21 June; A Flight was armed and refuelled ready for action within 15 minutes of landing. The Wildcats moved from airfield to airfield following the advance of the front lines deeper into Europe. They were at B.24 St André on 31 August, B.48 Glisy on 3 September, and at B.58 Melsbroek on 6 September to participate in support of Operation Market Garden. It moved into the airfield at Eindhoven, Netherlands on 26 September; the base had just been recently vacated by the enemy as a result of the operation. DFC, a seasoned veteran, failed to pull out of a dive and crashed into the channel dying instantly.

In its sixteen months of front line combat service from March 1944 to May 1945, 438 Squadron flew 4022 sorties, dropped 2070 tons of bombs and is credited with 430 rail cuts, 184 vehicles destroyed (+169 damaged), 12 tanks destroyed (+3 damaged), 5 locomotives destroyed (+73 damaged), 101 rail cars destroyed (+532 damaged), 1 barge sunk (+38 damaged), and 5 bridges destroyed. The cost for these successes was high, during the same timeframe, the squadron lost 38 aircraft, 31 pilots, of whom 17 were killed, 5 missing, 6 were captured by the enemy after bailing out and 3 successfully evaded capture after abandoning their aircraft.

The Disney connection

On February 10, 1944, 438 Squadron pilot and veteran of Alaska, Flight Lieutenant Ross Reid DFC, wrote a letter to Walt Disney requesting a squadron emblem design that could adorn their aircraft. With 401 Squadron came the Field Tactical Training Flight, formerly the 3 Field Tactical Training Unit moved to St-Hubert from CFB Bagotville the year before.

As early as 1997, 438 Squadron personnel were deployed to Haiti. Two groups, the first composed of some twenty international tourists and guides, the second composed of eleven Inuit hunters, became stranded on an ice floe in Admiralty Inlet, near Arctic Bay, Baffin Island.

The RCAF Joint Rescue Coordination Centre at CFB Trenton Ontario sprang into action launching a CC-130 Hercules from 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron out of 8 Wing Trenton. Following intense pre-deployment training in Canada, the advanced party of the initial rotation (Roto 0) arrived at their new base of operations in early November, Camp Taji just north of Baghdad, closely followed by the main body at the end of the same month.

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! style="background:#efefef;" | 438 Sqn CH-146 Griffon<br>over Baghdad in 2019

! style="background:#efefef;" | Tactical Aviation Detachment<br>RCAF emblem

! style="background:#efefef;" | 438 Sqn personnel visiting their counterparts<br>of 2 Sqn Iraqi Army Air Corps at Taji Iraq in 2019

|-

| align="center" | 300px

| align="center" | 220px

| align="center" | 330px

|}

Through ingenuity, initiative, and risk management, the Wildcats were able to begin flying operations within a mere two weeks of hitting the ground. Tactical air transport being the only safe means of travel between the multiple training areas, this Canadian asset was crucial to the initial phases and remained critical to the success of this multinational endeavor.

  • Wing Commander Ernest Archibald McNab O.B.E., D.F.C. (5 April 1941 - 22 July 1941)
  • Squadron Leader Hartland de Montarville Molson, O.C., O.B.E., Q.C. (23 July 1941 - 14 June 1942)
  • Squadron Leader Arthur McLeod Yuile (15 June 1942 - 27 February 1943)
  • Squadron Leader Frank George Grant, D.S.O., D.F.C., Croix de Guerre (France), Airman's Cross (Netherlands) (28 February 1943 - 28 July 1944)
  • Squadron Leader Jack Rife Beirnes, D.F.C. & Bar (29 July 1944 - 13 October 1944)
  • Squadron Leader Ross Frederick Reid, D.F.C. (14 October 1944 - 30 December 1944)
  • Acting Squadron Leader Peter Wilson (31 December 1944– KIA 1 January 1945)
  • Squadron Leader Ross Frederick Reid, D.F.C. (1 to 19 Janvier 1945)
  • Flight Lieutenant Robert Edward Spooner, D.F.C. (23 March 1945 - 5 April 1945)
  • Squadron Leader Jack Rife Beirnes, D.F.C. & Bar (6 April 1945– KIA 1 June 1945)
  • Wing Commander Claude Hebert, D.F.C. (15 April 1946 - 14 May 1950)