Bill Dunn's Spitfire II

[Enzo the Magnificent]

William R Dunn was born in Minneapolis, USA on 16 November 1916. In 1934 he joined the US army but was discharged in 1936

On the outbreak of the second world war, he crossed the border into Canada and joined the Canadian Army as an infantryman. He was posted to the Seaforth Highlanders, a Scottish unit attached to the 1st Canadian Division. His unit was posted to the UK in April 1940, being billeted at Borden where Dunn’s duties included acting as an AA gunner during air raids. In August of that year, Dunn claimed two Ju87s which he shot down as they attacked Borden.

He transferred to the RAF in December 1940 and after flying training was posted to 71 Sqn, the first “Eagle” squadron, flying Hurricanes. Dunn was the first Eagle squadron pilot to score a kill, shooting down a Bf109F on 2 July 1941. He had claimed two more kills by the time the squadron converted to the Spitfire.

Dunn regularly flew Spitfire II P7308, coded XR-D and in his autobiography Fighter Pilot he speaks affectionately of it.

I usually flew XR-D or XR-T. Both were good kites, but XR-D had just a bit more zip.

On 27 August 1941, 71 Sqn took part in Circus 86, a mission to bomb a steel plant at Lille. 71 was to provide top cover with the two other squadrons from their wing acting as close escort to the nine Blenheims who would carry out the attack.

By 0815 hours, Dunn was at 18,000 feet over Lille, idly watching the German flak bursting far below when he noticed that some of the puffs of black smoke were in fact red. These red markers meant that German fighters were being vectored towards them.

Dunn spotted the incoming fighters, reported them to the formation and turned to engage. Spotting two 109Fs which had held back from the bounce, Dunn climbed above them and attempted a bounce of his own.

I climb fast behind and above the two huns. I’m about 1,500 feet above them now and I have the sun at my back. I give my engine full throttle and dive on the rearmost enemy aircraft. The German leader of the two sees me coming and quickly half-rolls onto his back, diving away from me. The second 109, my target, does a climbing turn to the left. I close the range to about 150 yards, line the Hun up in my gunsight, then I press the gun-firing button. My aircraft shudders as I hear the sharp clatter of its eight machine guns. Acrid fumes of burned gunpowder fill my cockpit and sting my nostrils. I like this odor. It seems to stiffen my spine, tighten my muscles, make my blood race. It makes my scalp tingle and I want to laugh.

I see the grayish-white tracer streaks from my guns converge on the Messerschmitt’s tail section. The elevators and rudder disintegrate under the impact of the explosive DeWild bullets. Black liquid – engine oil – spatters my windscreen and a dense, brownish coloured smoke is flung back at me. My enemy is finished. Splash one, but good! I’ve got my fifth victory!

Dunn watched the 109 burn and crash. He was convinced that the flames were too much for the pilot to bale out. However, the pilot was lucky as another Spitfire pilot reported his parachute.

While Dunn was watching the Blenheims on their bombing run, he was hit by machine gun fire. It was the leader of the two he had attacked a minute or so before, come to avenge his wingman.

My port wing jerks and skids my Spitfire to the right. Now there are several long rips in the metal skin and a jagged hole near its tip. I look back quickly and see my attacker coming at me from the left rear quarter, slightly higher and closing fast. I think he is the leader of the pair I had first attacked.

There are perhaps three seconds left between life and death for me. The German’s tracers, glowing like little balls of fire, flash past my cockpit. I yank back the throttle, give my prop full fine pitch, jam the flaps down and violently skid my aircraft out of his gunsight. He is now closing too fast. I have greatly decereased my speed by changing prop pitch and by dumping flaps – luckily the flaps didn’t blow off. He overshoots me, skimming not more than ten feet above my head.

The bluish-white belly of the 109F fills my windscreen. I can even see oil streaks and rivets on the underside of its fuselage and above that the black cross insignia, unit markings and a red rooster painted on the side of the cockpit. The Hun pilot is looking directlyd own at me. His expression tells me that he fully realises (Gott in Himmel!) the mistake he has just made.

I fire. I can’t miss. My guns chatter for no more than three of four seconds. I see the bullets smashing into the Hun aircraft’s belly. Pieces fly off the 109. Then a wisp of gray smoke streams back from its engine and then the whole aircraft is suddenly engulfed in a sheet of white-hot flame. It rolls over slowly onto its back and starts down at a high rate of speed. The tail section breaks off. I last see it, tumbling as it falls, far below me. Splash two! My face is wet with nervous sweat. I can hear myself gasping into my oxygen mask.

Dunn immediately latched onto another 109, damaging it. But then in his mirror, he saw four more 109s attempting to engage. He rolled his Spitfire onto its back and attempted to disengage by diving steeply. Too late. His aircraft took multiple strikes and he was hit in the foot. Stunned, Dunn lost control of his aircraft and was only brought round when his head hit the side of the canopy. Fighting with the control column he managed to regain level flight at 1200 feet and found he was all alone in the sky.

He headed for home, bleeding badly from his injuries. After crossing the English coast he called Mayday and was escorted to Hawkinge, where he made a safe landing.

The front part of his right foot had been blown off by a 20mm cannon shell and he had also been injured in the neck by a machine gun bullet. The photograph below shows how badly his aircraft was damaged.

Both pilots of the 109s that Dunn shot down managed to bale out. His second aircraft was flown by Major Gerhardt Weick, an ace.

Dunn recovered from his wounds and became a flying instructor. In June 1943 he was transferred to the USAAC and became the gunnery officer of the 53rd Fighter Group. By the end of the war he had 8.5 confirmed kills under his belt.

He remained in the US Air Force after the war. In 1967 he served with the US 7th Air Force in Vietnam, flying 62 combat missions. He retired in 1973 after 38 years of military service and 378 combat missions.

Bill Dunn passed away on 14 February 1995.

References:

Wikipedia

Fighter Pilot: The First American Ace of World War II by William R Dunn

Edited June 3, 2011 by Enzo Matrix

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Once again, using the Tamiya 1/48 kit. Seat, cockpit door and Rotol prop from Ultracast. Eduard Zoom set for the harness, instrument panel and other cockpit details.

The decals are from the 3D-Kits sheet.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Enzo Matrix

[maltadefender]

Two to look forward to Enzo, lovely base kit for both... looking forward to seeing an earlier Spit in grey

[T-Tango]

Great story and a good basis for your build.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

First thing to do is add some PR to the cockpit, including the map case.

Head and back armour is PE. The Eduard set is pre-coloured, but I'm not convinced by the grey-green colour, so it will get sprayed. I've sanded off the moulded instruments to provide a good base for the PE panel.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Enzo Matrix

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Pretty much ready for assembly of the cockpit components.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Enzo Matrix

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Detail painting complete, with a coat of matt varnish (Klear and Tamiya flat base) to get rid of the shine.

And the cockpit completed and installed

Edited April 18, 2011 by Enzo Matrix

[airbus320]

Looking excellent so far - that instrument panel looks the mutts nuts!

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Looking excellent so far - that instrument panel looks the mutts nuts!

Thank you. However, I must point out that credit for the instrument panel goes to Mr Eduard rather than me. The Eduard Zoom set is excellent and you can see the result after a thin coat of matt varnish to take away the sheen.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

I have been working on this, I promise! Saldy, my rate of progress is quite glacial - as usual.

So... this is a MkII which requires a fairing over the Coffman starter. The fairing is provided in the Ultracast prop set. It is quite tiny and so the carpet monster got it. Luckily I am building a Rotol prop Mk1 in parallel, so I had a spare.

Ocean Grey uppersurfaces sparyed, using Xtracrylix XA1006.

The disruptive pattern masked off using my usual technique of placing tracing paper over the Tamiya paint guide, cutting out the mask and sticking it to the model using Copydex.

With the Dark Green sprayed in Xtracrylix XA1001

And then, disaster struck! The technique I use is quite tedious. I had succesfully masked another of my builds in this GB and followed it up with this one, but my concentration must have slipped. I had allowed the Copydex to leak out from under the masking, which mean that the edges of the camouflage was very ragged. Not good!

However, it gave me an idea for a possible technique that I may try in the future.

Anyroads... I sanded the whole thing down, resprayed the Ocean Gray and went for the easy option of using wiggly worms of BluTack.

With the Dark Green sprayed in Xtracrylix XA1001. Again!

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Painting finished, Klear coat applied. Wing walkways from decal lines and panels lines using Flory Models wash.

Decalling over the weekend.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Decals applied. Wheels too!

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Finished! Pictures at the weekend!

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Finished!

[3DStewart]

A lovely job Enzo. Thanks for using my decals.

Stewart