Winged Camel Statuette, around 1920s

The winged camel is the symbol of No. 45 Squadron. Formed in 1916 flying Sopwith 1½ Strutter, and later the Camel, by the 1920s, No. 45 Squadron had adopted the winged camel as their badge, alongside the motto ‘Through Difficulties I Arise.’

While the squadron was stationed in Iraq (1922 -1927), a silver model of the mascot was commissioned to serve as a formal table ornament. In subsequent years, reproductions such as this one were gifted to departing officers as a token of their time with the Squadron. This statuette was owned and donated by Group Captain G.G.H. du Boulay, who served as a Flying Officer on No. 45 Squadron in Iraq from 1925.