417 "City of Windsor" (F) Squadron, RCAF

Not without pride referring to itself as "the riff-raff" of the Desert Air Force, 417 Squadron was the only Canadian unit with the first of British Tactical Air Forces. Originally sent to the UK to fly Hawker Hurricanes, they were quickly sent to North Africa and re-equipped with Spitfires, a type 417 would fly in three variants until the end of the war.

As 602 Squadron fought its entire war over England and occupied Europe, 417 remained in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO), from the Western Desert through the landings on Sicily and finally the Italian mainland, closely following and covering the ground troops' advance.

Portraying these Canadian "odd-balls" within the somewhat stiffer RAF makes sense to us in several ways: We have a considerable number of Canadians among our members, "Miller Field", as the EAA's reenactor encampment is named, is set in mid-war Italy, and - a real bonus sometimes - portraying an MTO unit allows us to wear khaki drill whenever the Wisconsin summer chooses to make life in wool uniforms simply unbearable.

419 (B) Squadron, RCAF

Our "heavies" impression, as Commonwealth aviation reenactment would not be complete without Bomber Command, which took the fight deep into Germany under severe looses - The individual chances to survive World War II were worst for German submariners, followed by British Bomber Command crewmen.

Again, 419 is a Canadian unit, thus reflecting both the Canuck element in our membership as well as the enormous contribution of Canada and the Royal Canadian Air Force to the war effort.