Alouettes Honour WWII Flight Squad on New Uniform

The Montreal Alouettes are channeling their roots for their new “Signature Look” uniform by paying homage to the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 425 Squadron.

The 425 Squadron was the first-ever French Canadian unit in the RCAF, formed in 1942 during the second World War. The 425 was nicknamed ‘Alouettes’ after the Gallic bird “known for its toughness and high-altitude flights” (cfl.ca)

The new uniform, unveiled earlier today at a ceremony taking place at the Bagotville Canadian Forces Base in eastern Quebec, is predominantly grey. On each shoulder, on blue, is a winged design.

Across the front in red is “MTL”, a common abbreviation for Montreal, above a white player number. The patch used by the 425 Squadron is on the upper left front of the jersey in the presentation photo released by Reebok however, as you can see in the photo below, it has been replaced by a sponsor’s patch for in-game use:

New Alouettes uniform, pic courtesy Courrier du Saguenay @courrierdusag

It’s tough to see the helmet, but it’s basically the 425 Squadron patch laid out on a helmet shell, the “425” has been replaced by the “MTL” abbreviation.

“While we designed a new ultra-modern uniform, we still managed to bring out a historical side of the team. We are proud to have worked in collaboration with the Alouettes and the National Defence on this project and are confident that the team’s supporters will proudly wear their new Reebok CFL Signature uniforms.” – Stewart Clark, marketing director at Reebok Canada t0 CFL.ca

Fun to note, the shoulder area of this uniform is fairly similar in style to the Oregon Ducks — Nike’s flagship uniform guinea pig. These Alouettes uniforms are designed by Reebok: