The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in the Italian campaign, 1943-1945
No. 331 Wing
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4435173)
Vickers Wellington bomber Pilot J. Mason and his bomber Crew, No. 420 “Snowy Owl” Squadron, RCAF, 1942-1943.
No. 420 (Bomber) Squadron
No. 424 (Bomber) Squadron
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4752227)
Vickers Wellington bomber with its aircrew, Flight Sergeant Roland Dallaire, Flight Lieutenant Saint-Pierre, Flight Sergeant André Péloquin, and Pilot Officer Don Larivière. No. 425 “Alouette” Squadron, RCAF, 1942-1943.
No. 425 (Bomber) Squadron
No. 244 Wing
No. 417 (Fighter) Squadron
No. 417 (F)Squadron was the RCAF’s 16th – seventh Fighter – Squadron formed overseas, The unit was ordered to the Middle East in the spring of ’42. Equipped with Hurricane and later Spitfire aircraft, it spent five months in the defence of the Suez Canal and the Nile Delta. In April 1943 it became the only Canadian Squadron in the Desert Air Force and was to provide air defence and close support to the British Eighth Army through the closing stages of the Tunisian campaign, and throughout the Sicilian and Italian campaigns. The squadron was disbanded at Treviso, Italy on 30 June 1945.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 5196718)
Squadron Leader Hay with Flight Lieutenant Turvey, No. 417 (F) Squadron, RCAF, Italy, ca 1943-44.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 5196716)
F/L Everad, S/L A.U. “Bert” Houle, DFC*, F/L Whitside, No. 417 Squadron, RCAF, Italy, 1943-1944.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4997400)
Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V, No. 417 (F) Squadron, RCAF, near Lentini, Sicily, 26 August 1943.
The RCAF’s No. 417 Squadron was transferred from Fighter Command to the Desert Air Force and sent to the Middle East in June 1942. In February 1943, after a few months of drudgery work and uneventful patrols over the Nile, No. 417 was moved to Tripoli and incorporated into No. 244 Wing. That unit was later stationed in Malta, some 96 km off the coast of Sicily, from where it provide air support to the British 8th Army – which included the 1st Canadian Corps – during Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily by the Allies on 10 July 1943. No. 417 Squadron later took part in the fighting for the liberation of Italy.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3205814)
RCAF Flying Fortress mail plane taking off from Italy heading back to Canada, 30 December 1943.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4113915).
Firefighters hosing down a crashed Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero three-engine bomber, possibly at an RCAF forward operating strip on the Italian front, Dec 1943.