Created 15 May 1935 in Hamilton, Ontario, it came to be tasked with coastal patrol and anti-submarine duty over the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean around Nova Scotia.

[4] Now assigned to anti-submarine duty, it flew in support of RCN/RN (and later USN activities), over the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the waters adjacent to Cabot Strait.

Flying Bolingbrokes, twin-engine aircraft, its first operational mission, 16 April 1942, while at Yarmouth was to escort HMS Ramillies through the Bay of Fundy, a Revenge-class battleship assigned for North Atlantic convoy escort from Halifax, on March 17, 1941, to Saint John, New Brunswick.

Submitted to the Chester of Herald of the Royal College of Arms, in London, England, the Squadron nickname became the “Hamilton Tigers” with motto – [Touch Me Not] approved by King George VI, in October 1942.

IIIs, it continued on anti-submarine reconnaissance over the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Cape Breton Island, flying its last operational mission on 11 March 1944.