410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron (French: 410e Escadron d'entraînement opérationnel à l'appui tactique), nicknamed the "Cougars", is a Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft squadron currently at Canada's primary training base for the CF-18 (Canadian Forces version of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet), at Cold Lake, Alberta.

410 Squadron supported the Allied forces during the Normandy Landings and the Battle of the Bulge, flew nightly patrols during this time and many of its pilots gained ace status.

The Canadian documentary television series Jetstream was filmed with the squadron in 2007 and showed what trainees must endure to become fighter pilots.

[2] These two major devices are in reference to the squadron's Second World War night fighter activities, when the unit was renowned for its skill and number of victories.

410 Squadron was acknowledged as the top-scoring night fighter unit in RAF Second Tactical Air Force in the period between D-Day and VE Day,[3] although No.

The squadron had the following operational casualties: 17 aircraft and 32 aircrew, of whom 10 were killed, 20 presumed dead, and two were made prisoners of war.

Hiltz, flew a four-aircraft detachment to Colerne where they provided fighter cover for the initial airborne landings.

410 Squadron claimed its first kill when Flying Officers A. Mcleod and Bob Snowdon destroyed a Junkers Ju 188.

From June to August 1944, the squadron was mostly occupied with nightly patrols over the beachheads to guard the Allied troops and shipping against German bombers.

410 Squadron's Mosquitoes brought down thirty-one German aircraft and damaged or destroyed three more, in less than 31 sorties.

One night an engine in W/C Hiltz's Mosquito failed on the take-off run and the aircraft, swerving off the runway, crashed into "A" Flight dispersal.

[14] While on patrol from Brussels to Antwerp and Rotterdam they saw a bright orange light directly ahead and seemingly at their own altitude, 10,000 feet (3,000 m).

On return to base, the crew reported the sighting as a V-1 flying bomb, but their account of the spectacular rate of climb and other details aroused great interest amongst senior officers.

The fighter squadrons continued to make advances until February, while waiting for the Canadian push through the Reichwald.

Although there was some aerial fighting, the major conflict with the Luftwaffe occurred when the Canadians started to cross the Rhine on 24 March 1945.

[13] For several days the airfield had been fogbound and when the sky cleared somewhat in the afternoon of 21 December, S/L Fulton, "B" Flight commander, took off for England in the squadron's Airspeed Oxford aircraft.

The first DFCs went to Acting Flight Lieutenant Martin Anthony Cybulski and Flying Officer Harold Herbert Ladbrook on 9 November 1943[19] The citation does not mention that they had to return to base on a single engine, and with other damage to the aircraft.

At the close of an action with their third Do 217, which the combat report describes as: "a long duel with the enemy pilot showing a high degree of airmanship," they were hit by return fire, including a cannon shell that destroyed much of the instrument panel and which narrowly missed the pilot.

[23] Squadron Leader James Dean Somerville and F/O George Douglas Robinson were awarded the DFC on 20 October 1944.

[31] F/O Donald Murdo Mackenzie was awarded the DFC on 27 February 1945,[32] having destroyed a Ju 88 on 30 July 1944, and then two more in a single sortie on 24 December.

[3][10] From May 1949 to August 1951, the Blue Devils aerobatics team formed, to demonstrate the abilities of the new Vampire aircraft at formation flying.

410 Squadron began flying the North American Harvard training aircraft and then flew the Boulton Paul Defiant from July 1941 to May 1942.

A problem with this aircraft was that it had no forward armament,[34] and so it was exchanged for the Bristol Beaufighter II, long-range heavy fighter.

[36] The squadron became a fighter unit in 1948, flying the de Havilland Vampire, having already flown the aircraft for two years in an Air Defence role.

The first two CF-18s were formally handed over to 410 (Operational Training Unit) Squadron at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta on 25 October 1982.

Students are taken from among the graduates of a Fighter Lead-In Training Course and are provided with the knowledge of basic skills in both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat.

This three-week course is designed to allow ten pilots annually to graduate and return to their squadrons as electronic warfare experts and instructors.

[2] Areas covered in depth in the Fighter Pilot Course (FPC) include basic and advanced aircraft handling, instrument flight, formation flying, night flying, all-weather interception, air-to-air refuelling, Basic Fighter Manoeuvres (BFM – "dogfighting skills") and air combat.

[2] The latter half of each FPC comprises academic air-to-ground weapons delivery and Close Air Support (CAS), as well as advanced Air Interdiction (AI) tactics, the former usually completed during a squadron deployment to the south-western United States in the late spring and early fall, due to the significantly better weather and the sheer number of bombing ranges available.

The Canadian documentary television series Jetstream was filmed in 2007, showing life on the base at Cold Lake and what a trainee must endure to become a fighter pilot.