No. 143 Wing RCAF
| No. 143 Wing RCAF No. 143 (RCAF) (Fighter) Wing RAF .svg){kind=small} | |
|---|---|
| Active | May 1944 - August 1945 |
| Country |  Canada |
| Branch | Royal Air Force / Royal Canadian Air Force |
| Size | Wing |
| Part of | RAF Second Tactical Air Force No. 83 (Composite) Group RAF |
No. 143 Wing RCAF was a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force which served with the Royal Air Force in Europe during the Second World War.
History
[edit]RAF Second Tactical Air Force was established on 1 June 1943. No. 143 Wing was established on 10 January 1944. It comprised No. 438 Squadron RCAF, No. 439 Squadron RCAF, and No. 440 Squadron RCAF. As a fighter-ground attack unit, its purpose was to support the Canadian and British troops of 21st Army Group.
On 5 June 1944 while at RAF Hurn as "No. 143 (RCAF) (Fighter) Wing RAF"[1][2]
From 22/23 June 1944 to 30 August 1944 the wing was located at B.5 (FRESNE CAMILLE) (for two days only) and then Lantheuil (B.9), just south of Creully, before moving forward to keep up with the ground forces.
The Typhoon aircraft has been painted by Robert Bailey, picturing F/Lt Harry Hardy, RCAF, flying the "Pulverizer 2".
Sqn Ldr Donald A. Brewster OBE was the Wing's Chief Technical Officer from April 1944 until the end of the war.[3]
The wing disbanded on 26 August 1945.[4]
Aircraft
[edit]- Hawker Hurricane IV (November 1943 - May 1944)
- Hawker Typhoon IB (January 1944 - August 1945)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ "Hurn (Bournemouth)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
- ^ Falconer 1998, p. 123.
- ^ "History of 143 (RCAF) Wing". Canadian Wings. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
- ^ Wings 111 - 192 P
Bibliography
[edit]- Falconer, J (1998). RAF Fighter Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0-7110-2175-9.
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1 Aircraft administered and serviced by the RCAF but manned by the Royal Canadian Artillery.
2 Non-standard code as unit using OW added L. Letters normally denoted parent Command, aircraft type (L Liberator transport, D Dakota etc), unit, and individual aircraft. 3 VC .svg){kind=small} XXA where VC was the civil code used by the RCAF replacing CF-, XX was the unit code and A was the aircraft ID letter4 XX nnn where XX was the unit code and nnn was the last 3 digits of the serial number. Unit code was replaced with "RCAF" in 1958 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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