No. 428 Squadron RCAF
On 7 Nov 1942, he assumed command of No 428 (RCAF) Squadron, standing up the squadron in No. 4 Group. As the OC, it was noted that "Wing Commander Earle was a grand chap, one who can genuinely be called, 'One of Nature's Gentlemen'. He was well liked by the Canadians and sadly missed when he left on promotion to group captain in February 1943. He flew two operations from Dalton, occupying the astro-dome. He had previously been flying Fairey Gordons in the Middle East (Iraq), and found the Wellington difficult, partly due to his eyesight not liking the English skies, and partly as he was not a tall man." After only three months, he left 428 Bomber Squadron (RCAF) as an acting group captain on 7 Feb 1943, when he was assigned as the station commander of RAF Ridgewell and then RAF West Wickham, late in 1943, then as a temporary group captain. He ended the war as Air Officer Commanding No. 300 Group RAF (RAF Transport Command) in Australia.
No. 3 Squadron RCAF
No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron was formed on 1 September 1935 at the RCAF main training base in Trenton, Ontario, under the control of RCAF headquarters. Along with Nos. 2 and 6 Squadrons, It was authorized to be formed with two flights for purely military purposes during Fiscal Year 1936/1937. The squadron was to include a Fighter Flight with the Armstrong Whitworth Siskin Mark IIIA and a Bomber Flight with the Westland Wapiti. Only the former was formed on 1 September from the pre-existing Fighter Flight formed in 1930 as the Wapitis had yet to arrive from England. Due to a shortage of aircraft and personnel, the squadron included only one flight on 15 April 1936. It expanded to two flights under the command of Squadron Leader A.H. Hull on 13 July; the Bomber Flight was to include the nucleus of No. 6 Squadron. On 10 August it was combined into a four-flight composite squadron under the command of Hull with No. 2 Squadron due to the shortages, with C Flight from the Bomber Flight with the No. 6 Squadron nucleus and D Flight from the Fighter Flight; A and B Flights were from No. 2. After No. 6 Squadron was activated on 1 December 1936, No. 3 Squadron again became a separate unit under the temporary command of Flight Lieutenant B.G. Carr-Harris on 7 April 1937.