<i>Royal Air Force- Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943.</i><br>
Wing Commander R G Yaxley, Officer Commanding No. 117 Squadron RAF, seen here at El Adem, Libya. Yaxley was awarded an MC while serving with an RAF armoured car company before the war.  By December 1940 he was a Squadron Leader, commanding No. 252 Squadron RAF flying Bristol Beaufighters in the Western Desert. When 252 Squadron aircrews merged with No. 272 Squadron RAF, he also commanded that unit until February 1942 and was awarded the DFC. Following his promotion to Wing Commander he was given the command of No. 117 Squadron in July 1942, flying Lockheed Hudsons in North Africa and along transport routes to Malta and West Africa. By the end of 1942, the Squadron was heavily involved in resupplying forward Army units in Libya as part of No. 216 Group's Mobile Operations Force and Yaxley was instrumental in resupplying a force of fighters at a landing ground within enemy territory (LG 125), from where they conducted operations for a period in November 1942. He returned to the United Kingdom in February 1943, having been awarded the DSO, but was shot down and killed over the Bay of Biscay on 3 June 1943 whilst returning to the Middle East in a Hudson.
Royal Air Force official photographer
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<td>This photograph <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205209003">CM 4110</a> comes from the collections of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/">Imperial War Museums</a>.
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