The Few

[Lord Flashheart]

An excellent thread Smithy and very well worth it.

 

[Smithy]

Spitfire Ia of A Flight, 609 Sqn, Middle Wallop, August 1940.

Small but great image of a hard worked aircraft. You can see where the paint on the inner wing has been worn back to the bare metal due to the pilot and groundcrew. You can also see the gas detection patch - the light square towards the end of the port wing. At the start of the war the British were terribly worried that the Germans would use gas and so frontline aircraft carried these patches. In truth it was a reactive paint, a greeny yellow which would change to red when it came in contact with poison gas.

 

[Smithy]

Sticking with 609 here's David Crook (who wrote the marvellous memoir "Spitfire Pilot") waiting outside dispersal with the paper, most probably very early in the day due to the Irvin.

 

[stanier]

Shame that Søren no longer hangs around here as he would love this, a very famous image that ran in Life, the South African ace Albert "Zulu" Lewis of 85 Sqn.

Søren actually wrote a book on Zulu and self published it with only a handful of copies, I was one of the lucky ones who he gave a copy to!

Are you in contact with Soren Smithy? Very nice guy, and I for one would love to know how his Irvin's are doing! That Aces High jacket he had was a stunner. I wonder what it's like now?

 

[Smithy]

Are you in contact with Soren Smithy? Very nice guy, and I for one would love to know how his Irvin's are doing! That Aces High jacket he had was a stunner. I wonder what it's like now?

He's good, just spoke to him recently. His son lives in London so he's actually over in the UK each year for a spell. His Aces High really is the bee's knees! He's still very interested in the Battle of Britain but has also developed an interest in the Highland regiments in WWII.

And you're right he is one of the most loveliest people you could meet. My wife and I stayed at his house just outside KBH and the generosity that he and Dorthe his wife showed us was truly humbling.

 

[stanier]

He's good, just spoke to him recently. His son lives in London so he's actually over in the UK each year for a spell. His Aces High really is the bee's knees! He's still very interested in the Battle of Britain but has also developed an interest in the Highland regiments in WWII.

And you're right he is one of the most loveliest people you could meet. My wife and I stayed at his house just outside KBH and the generosity that he and Dorthe his wife showed us was truly humbling.

When we manage to lose people like Soren it really worries me. Wish him well from a forum member who remembers him when you next catch up please. Cheers mate

 

[Smithy]

When we manage to lose people like Soren it really worries me. Wish him well from a forum member who remembers him when you next catch up please. Cheers mate

Will do!

 

[Skip]

Just stumbled into this mate, great show Tim.

Here's one of my very favourite images and some might recognise it as my avatar from awhile back.

An unknown Sgt Pilot from 610 Sqn, July 1940.

Always loved that shot, really Gives you an understanding of the meaning “tail dragger”

 

[Smithy]

The Tigers.

74 Sqn, Hornchurch, late July or the first week of August 1940

 

[Lorenzo_l]

James Harry "Ginger" Lacey, 501 Sqn pilot and second-highest scoring pilot of the Battle of Britain:

Not content with shooting down Germans during the BoB, Lacey was posted to India in 1943, where he shot down a Nkajima KI 43 "Oscar", bringing his final tally to 28 enemy aircraft destroyed, five probables and nine damaged. Too bad he did not write a book about his experiences as a fighter pilot....

 

[Lorenzo_l]

I was not sure whether this post should be on this or the "Dude of the day" thread. I suspect that Lacey would be a comfy fit to either of the two!

 

[Smithy]

James Harry "Ginger" Lacey, 501 Sqn pilot and second-highest scoring pilot of the Battle of Britain:

Be aware that some list him as third.

Ginger got trotted out by Triumph in the early 1970s for the marketing of the Spitfire sports car. He was in print and TVC advertising for them.

He didn't write a memoir but Richard Townsend Bickers wrote a bio of him in the 60s, cheap as chips on the secondhand market.

Two who did fly in the BoB and also against the Japanese and wrote about it were Spud Spurdle (The Blue Arena) and Tim Vigors (Life's Too Short To Cry). Both are damn good reads.

 

[Lorenzo_l]

Be aware that some list him as third.

Ginger got trotted out by Triumph in the early 1970s for the marketing of the Spitfire sports car. He was in print and TVC advertising for them.

He didn't write a memoir but Richard Townsend Bickers wrote a bio of him in the 60s, cheap as chips on the secondhand market.

Two who did fly in the BoB and also against the Japanese and wrote about it were Spud Spurdle (The Blue Arena) and Tim Vigors (Life's Too Short To Cry). Both are damn good reads.

I've just got "the Blue Arena". Next in the pile of books to read. Thanks for the recommendation, btw!

 

[Smithy]

I've just got "the Blue Area". Next in the pile of books to read. Thanks for the recommendation, btw!

It's an absolutely awesome book, one of the very best pilot memoirs I have read.

 

[Smithy]

Time for a well known figure from the battle, Richard Hillary of 603 Sqn. Hillary was shot down by a 109 of JG26 on the 3rd September and was very badly burnt. He became one of McIndoe's Guinea Pigs - those men treated by NZ surgeon Archie McIndoe's groundbreaking treatment of burns victims.

A savagely intelligent man and a gifted writer he wrote the classic "The Last Enemy" about his experiences. Sadly he was killed in an air accident in bad weather in 1943.

David Ross wrote a terrific biography about him a few years back.

 

[Smithy]

Here's a very candid photo.

Hillary's 603 Sqn had a German dinghy from a downed He111 that they used to fool around in when based at Turnhouse.

Here's Hillary in the dinghy, immediately after his mate Stapme Stapleton has fired a 22 rifle into the bottom of the boat.

This is probably only a fortnight or so before he was shot down, so mid August.

 

[Smithy]

Time for another one...

and one of the most famous and successful pilots from the BoB, the New Zealander Al Deere of 54 Sqn. Here he is with "Kiwi II", his Spitfire Mk.Ia, P9390, on 5 July 1940. Technically this is 5 days before the "official" start of the BoB but I thought it worth including this because photos of Al's "Kiwis" are few. He flew 3 Spits which he called Kiwi. A bit of trivia, he was the RAF's middleweight boxing champion two years running just prior to the war.

Also note the rear vision mirror and its positioning. Deere was one of the first pilots to have a mirror fitted (they only started to be fitted during production on the 24 September 1940) and this one is from an MG sports car.

 

[Lorenzo_l]

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Spitfire MK.IIa, P7350 (an actual veteran of the BoB), is currently painted to represent of Al Deere's Spitfire, Kiwi III:

 

[Smithy]

It's a recent repaint and looks lovely. There was an article a month or two back about this in Aeroplane or Flightpath.

Of course none of Al's Kiwis were Mk.IIs but we'll let them off for that ;-)

 

[Lorenzo_l]

P7350 waqs repainted in Al Deere's MK.I Spitfire colours in 2019. "Flightpast" ran a very nice pictorial to mark the occasion. And given that there are currently no airworthy MK.I Spits, I'll be happy to let BOBMF off the hook!