419 Squadron Commanding Officer LCol Ryan Kean (left) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) 1 Canadian Air Division (1 CAD) MGen Iain Huddleston during the ceremony marking the deactivation of 419 Squadron at CFB Cold Lake on March 8th – Photos by 4 Wing Imaging

419 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron (419 TFTS) has been deactivated after almost 24 years.

Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake’s Hangar 10 hosted a ceremony to mark the squadron’s new hiatus of operations on March 8th. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) 1 Canadian Air Division (1 CAD) MGen Iain Huddleston was among the notable guests in attendance.

“This upcoming period of hiatus is nothing new for 419 Squadron; indeed, it has been part of our squadron’s story going back to its beginnings in England during the Second World War,” said 419 Squadron Commanding Officer LCol Ryan Kean in a release. “Certainly, it’s bittersweet—while it is never easy to work through this kind of change, even on an interim basis, we are looking forward to the reactivation of 419 Squadron with new and exciting capabilities in the future.”

The 419 Squadron’s current version was activated in 2000, but its history goes back much further. 419 Squadron was originally formed in the British Royal Air Force during World War 2. An active member of 3 Group RAF Bomber Command, the squadron completed numerous missions with Wellington, Halifax and Lancaster bombers. A notable member of the squadron during that time was Andrew Mynarski, who would be awarded the Victoria Cross for his attempt at a rescue of a trapped aircrew member over France in 1944.

Between 1954 and 2000, the squadron was reformed and deactivated multiple times, serving as both an all-weather fighter squadron as well as part of the No. 1 Canadian Forces Flight Training School.

Fighter pilots will now conduct their initial fighter training through the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) program at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, as well as Fighter Lead-in Training (FLIT) programs in Finland and at Italy’s International Flight Training School, where it’s expected that Canada will have two instructors and six students by next year.

The CT-155 Hawk that was used by training squadrons will be moving on to the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering at CFB Borden in Ontario, where they will support the training of RCAF aircraft technicians.

While the unit is officially stood down, this does not mean goodbye forever for 419 Squadron. LCol Kean says while the squadron is on hiatus from operations, its personnel will support other units at 4 Wing Cold. Meanwhile, the squadron will remain administratively active, so that it is ready for a planned reactivation of the squadron in the early 2030s, reactivated in the future with a new fifth-generation trainer aircraft as part of a Future Fighter Lead-in Training program.