What have we here? No 3
Bill,
Only the recce squadron of the armoured regiment in Germany had a helicopter troop. The Fort Garry Horse had the first one, formed, I believe, in the summer of 1962 at Gagetown in anticipation of the Regiment's deployment to Germany in the fall of 1962. When the Garrys redeployed to Canada at the end of 1965. a recce squadron from the 8th Canadian Hussars replaced it; most of the pilots and observers in fact remained with the new squadron and did not rebadge. Indeed, by 1964, most pilots posted in retained their original regimental cap badges so we had a mixture of people from all four regular armoured regiments and even one, for a while, who was wearing QORofC badges. The helicopter troop became an air force unit designated 444 Squadron upon unification of the Canadian armed forces.
Wyn
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