No. 143 Wing RCAF

No. 143 Wing RCAF No. 143 (RCAF) (Fighter) Wing RAF
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

Second World War

History

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

Hawker Hurricane IV (November 1943 - May 1944)
Hawker Typhoon IB (January 1944 - August 1945)

References

Citations

^ "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

Falconer, J (1998). RAF Fighter Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing.
ISBN 0-7110-2175-9
.

v t e Royal Canadian Air Force units
Wings	1 Wing Kingston 2 Wing Bagotville 3 Wing Bagotville 4 Wing Cold Lake 5 Wing Goose Bay 8 Wing Trenton 9 Wing Gander 12 Wing Shearwater 14 Wing Greenwood 15 Wing Moose Jaw 16 Wing Borden 17 Wing Winnipeg 19 Wing Comox 22 Wing North Bay
Squadrons	21 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron 42 Radar Squadron 51 Aerospace Control and Warning Operational Training Squadron 103 Search and Rescue Squadron 400 Tactical Helicopter Squadron 401 Tactical Fighter Squadron 402 Squadron 403 Helicopter Operational Training Squadron 404 Long Range Patrol and Training Squadron 405 Long Range Patrol Squadron 406 Maritime Operational Training Squadron 407 Long Range Patrol Squadron 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron 410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron 412 Transport Squadron 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron 414 Electronic Warfare Support Squadron 415 Long Range Patrol Force Development Squadron 417 Combat Support Squadron 423 Maritime Helicopter Squadron 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron 426 Transport Training Squadron 429 Transport Squadron 430 Tactical Helicopter Squadron 433 Tactical Fighter Squadron 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron 436 Transport Squadron 437 Transport Squadron 438 Tactical Helicopter Squadron 439 Combat Support Squadron 440 Transport Squadron 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron 444 Combat Support Squadron 450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron
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Royal Canadian Air Force

List of aircraft

Wings: 1 Wing Kingston; 3 Wing Bagotville; 4 Wing Cold Lake; 5 Wing Goose Bay; 8 Wing Trenton; 9 Wing Gander; 12 Wing Shearwater; 14 Wing Greenwood; 15 Wing Moose Jaw; 16 Wing Borden; 17 Wing Winnipeg; 19 Wing Comox; 22 Wing North Bay
List of Squadrons

Training: Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering

History: Canadian Aviation Corps (1914–1915); Canadian Air Force (1918–1920); Canadian Air Force (1920–1924); Royal Canadian Air Force (1924–1968); Canadian Forces Air Command (1975–2011); Royal Canadian Air Force (2011–present)

Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons

Squadron
numbers

Pre-WWII Squadrons	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 18
100-series squadrons	110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 145 147 149 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 170
WW2 400-series Article XV squadrons	400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443
WW2 600-series AOP squadrons¹	664 665 666
Post-war squadrons	103 444 445 446 447 448 449 450

Squadron
codes

WW2 Canada

1 August 1939 - May 1942	AY BK BT DM EX FD FY JY KA KO LT MX NA OP OY PB QN RE TM XE XO YO ZD
Unit formation in 1940 - May 1942	AN BF GK GV LU PO QE TQ RA
Dartmouth Hurricanes 1942	1 or 2 1 or 2 1 or 2
May 1942 - 16 October 1942	AE AF AG AN AZ BA BD BV DE DZ EA ED EN ET FG FN GA GR HA HJ JK KL LM LR LV LZ MA MK MR NO PQ QG RA RS SZ TF TN UV UY VD VW XP XY YA YH YZ ZM ZR

WW2 Overseas
1940-1946

Operational squadrons	AB AE AL AN AU AW BM BX 2I CI DB DG DH DN EE EQ 5V FD F3 6U GX G9 HU I8 9G KH KP KW LQ NA ND NH OW PT QB QL QO QY RA RR RU RV SE SP SW TH VR VZ WL YI YO YZ ZL ZU Z2
Transport squadrons	OWL² ODM ODN ODO

Post-WW2
1947 - 1958

1947 - 1951 (VCXXA)³	AA AB AC AD AG AH AK AM AN AO AP AQ AT AU AW AX BA BC BN BQ BU XV
1951 - 1958 (XXnnn)⁴	AF AM AN AP AQ AS AX BA BB BH BQ BR BT BU BV DL FG GW HG HO IG JF JW KE KH LP MN NQ PF PR QP QT RX SA SP SV TF UD VN XK XV

¹Aircraft 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

XXA where VC was the civil code used by the RCAF replacing CF-, XX was the unit code and A was the aircraft ID letter

⁴ 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

History

Aircraft

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography