Australian Forces

“Little Caproni” for Australian pilots

Australian War Memorial

A school and tourist plane Caproni Ca.100, perhaps of a Sicilian flying club, seized by the Royal Australian Air Force after the conquest of the Sicily, repainted by the RAAF’s colors and insignia. The plane, unofficial code OK-?, was employed by the pilots of the No. 450 Squadron RAAF, the “Desert Harassers”, Kittyhawk equipped, for training and leisure flights on the now quiet Sicilian sky. The Ca.100, known by the Italian aviators as “Caproncino” (Little Caproni), was an aircraft issued from the British de Havilland DH.60 “Moth” modified as an inverted sesquiplane and produced by Caproni as landplane and floatplane with different engine’s types for the Italian Regia Aeronautica, other foreign air forces and Italian flying clubs. Photo taken in Sicily, likely Pachino airfield, Summer/Autumn 1943. Victor Sierra