M20gull

I took the Hydra reference from Wikipedia so doubt is always there. The RAF Heraldic Trust also suggests a three-headed Hydra http://www.rafht.co.uk/index.php/2016/06/11/238-sqn/

I have been distracted again. I was looking at how 451 Squadron received their Spitfires before moving to Corsica in April 1944 to see if it could guide me on the sort of camouflage they would be wearing. They get Vs in October 1943 and these are replaced by IXs in late December/early January. The first two IXs arrive from 80 and 74 squadrons. The ORB Records for January and February are a very poor copy and the serials are unreadable but I suspect that MA456 (of which we have a later photo) is the one from 80 Squadron. I then noticed that one of the Vcs was BR470 which was a subject of discussion much earlier in this topic while looking at BR363's service in 601 Squadron in 1942. According to the production database BR470 was with 601 Squadron and Failed to Return on 31.08.42 I had already noted that I could not find any record of this. So I had a look around 601's ORBs for that period and could not find BR470 on any of them. So I looked on 92 and 145 who were also operating Spitfires at that time. No sign. However I did coinicdentally notice that both 601 and 92 are both operating a BR478 in August and September. On 1.9.42 they are flying at the same time. Database for BR478 has shot down on 29.9.42; neither 601 nor 92 have a record of losing BR478 on that date! See: nothing to do with special Spitfires!

An aside about Bill Kain. I had seen a suggestion that he was the first RAF pilot shot down in France. He was shot down in France on 29.9.39. By the French! He flew over to show some French artillery an English plane and they shot off his airscrew.

Bill Kain's story is interesting and has kept me busy reading and digging. He came to the RAF from a farm in New Zealand at the age of 19 in 1935. He flew display teams in the Empire Air Days, fought in France, over Dunkirk and in the Battle of Britain, led squadrons in Malta and North Africa before returning to farming in NZ. While his Idku plane EP312 is clearly special it is not a high altitude plane and doesn't trouble us here.

Further to the BS342 photos the DK decals have an insignia on the engine cover. This looks similar to the 238 squadron crest so both photos could be 238 squadron, just at different times. [Further update: I originally suggested a Hydra, as per Wikipedia, and amended the reference to Cerberus following Hornet133's post, now left open]

I have a couple of questions about Spitfire camo in the Middle East late in the war. This connects the previous two posts. I referenced above that MA399 is in day fighter scheme. It arrives in Africa via Casablanca at the end of June. So I think that most of the IXs arriving at this time would have been exported in the expectation that they were headed to Italy and so should not be in desert. As they are not NW Europe they do not have the sky band which would be overpainted in theatre. Is this reasonable? Bill Kain has his own V special when station commander at Idku. As a beautiful reminder of the difficulty of selecting colours on the basis of B&W photos compare EP312 on this page with the photo on this Ventura decals set.. The colour for this plane seems to be settled as dark green/dark earth/azure blue though there is some dissent arguing for desert standard instead. On this page it is suggested that the green/earth/azure scheme was standard for the Western desert at this phase of the war. While I can see a logic for moving away from desert when most of the fighter activity is related to convoy protection, did the standard change? EP312 had been in North Africa since 1942 so presumably would have started life in desert.

The Ducimus book referred to has arrived. It dates from 1970, covers only the Merlin-engined versions and has a lot of information in it for its size. The author is honest that there is much information still to discover! The picture is much as described above. A very poor quality photo of four IXs. The nearest is BS342 in high altitude colours. Compared to the other photo that I have already linked to there is one obvious difference. And that highlights something I had previously missed. In the stock photo the spinner is light in colour presumably MSG to match the upper colour. The DK decals set has the spinner as black. The Ducimus photo has a dark spinner, which could be black but could presumably be red. What it does mean is that the two photos are not directly contemporary. I think in the new photo the fin flash is also different. The Ducimus photo could be with 74 squadron. The next in the line is MA399 and is not in high altitude scheme. The caption says it is normal day fighter scheme, which I suppose it could be; it's certainly dark enough. It has the code 'C' and standard C roundels. The third in line is not identified and you cannot see very much of it. It looks a lot like MA399, similar darkness, matching roundels and you can see the bottom half of a letter which looks a lot like 'S'. You can see even less of the fourth one.

There are good photos and comments on this page https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/84234-special-lightened-high-altitude-african-spitfires which includes the comments: Wing Commander Dereck "Bill" Kain who at this time commanded No. 127 Squadron and then was posted as Staion Commander and commander of the Wing at RAF Idku in Egypt. Sometime in this period he flew at least one lightened Spitfire that the maintenance guys removed everthing they could to make it lighter in weight. Their aim was to try to reach high altiude to attack some Junkers 86 (and possibly Junkers 88) bombers that were flying so high the standard fighters couldn't reach them. He apparently actually intercepted a Junkers 86 in one of these Spitfires, flew alongside and waggled his wings to shue him away and they never had trouble with the bombers again as they realised they could be now shot down. The intercept was at 45,000 feet. His logbook records this event as the 15th of April 1944, and the Spitfire being coded 'H; and the serial ending with '237'. He didn't fill in the full serial. The next day he took another Spitfire that he wrote in as '504' up to 47,000 feet on a height test. 504 is presumably MA504 237 – could be MA237 or MJ237 but I think is more likely to be a misprint for MJ227 which is paired with MA504 in 10 SAAF In April, 41 squadron were based at Idku and they get their SHF planes on 18/04 two days after Kain’s test. Who better to air test two new high performance Spits than the Station Commander? And why weigh them down with ammo so that you can only waggle your wings at them?

I think I have exhausted the information on the 1 SAAF Modified IXs (though I will probably keep looking) so I am moving on to the 1944 Natural Metal Finish SHFs. I have already posted on the vol-2-all-the-spitfire-questions-here topic and am going to reproduce that post (with some typos corrected) here with some additional comments in following posts. In response to the thread amazing-resource-of-private-ww2-aircraft-photos-saaf-check-it-out I did some reading on the subject of the SHF IXs, especially of the Operation Record Books at the National Archives. I looked at records for 91 and 213 RAF and 9, 10, 11 and 41 SAAF. I have restricted comments here to modelling but would heartily recommend reading the ORBs for details of the running of squadrons during a fairly dull period. There is discussion here as well. There are 6 SHFs and this is referenced in 41's ORB for April when they get excited about being allocated 2 SHFs as there are only 6 in Middle East Command. The other 4 are allocated to 213 and 94 squadron, the latter of whom are less than impressed as they arrive with no instructions, equipment or directions as to use! 213 are allocated MH931 and MH993. No detail on the other four. Looking at the ORBs and photos the 6 planes are: MH931 IX CBAF 33MU 19-9-43 52MU 8-10-43 Charlton Hall 24-10-43 Casablanca 17-11-43 218Grp NAfrica 30-11-43 Middle East 21-6-45 REAF 29-3-46 MH993 IX CBAF 33MU 4-9-43 52MU 10-9-43 Crawford W Long 22-9-43 Casablanca 10-10-43 NAfricanASC 31-10-43 RHAF 27-3-47 MA504 IXT CBAF 33MU 13-6-43 222MU 22-6-43 Fort Vercheres 1-7-43 Casablanca 14-7-43 Middle East 1-9-43 80S 10SAAF 9SAAF 94S SOC 28-2-46 MA792 IX CBAF 9MU 18-7-43 47MU 30-7-43 SS732 5-8-43 Casablanca 18-8-43 218Grp NAfrica 30-11-43 Middle East SOC 31-10-46 MH946 IX CBAF 33MU 28-8-43 82MU 2-9-43 Empire Grebe 15-9-43 Casablanca 29-9-43 NAfricanASC 31-10-43 Middle East 21-6-45 Cv LFIX M66 24-7-45 RHAF 30-1-47 MJ227 IX CBAF 33MU 18-10-43 222MU 7-11-43 Fort George 4-12-43 Casablanca 22-12-43 Middle East 21-6-45 REAF 29-8-46 It seems that there are photos of five of them (other than MJ227), though I have not seen the photos of MH931 and MH993 in the rare book of Spitfires in the SAAF. There is a lot of movement as squadrons come and go. MJ227 ends up going back to Aboukir in June. All of the planes are gone in November, presumably as the threat recedes. Armament as stated in many places the SHFs operate in pairs, one with 20mm cannon, one with 0.5 Browning (the armourers in 9 SAAF are disappointed to lose the work on the 0.5s in November). Looking at MH946 it seems to me that the Browning sits in the cannon bay, as with the earlier Mk Vs. I think that the planes can be converted, e.g. MA504 which has cannon in some shots, not others and definitely has cannon in October Radio only fitted to the machine gun versions, 41 squadron in June complain about not being able to communicate with the cannon versions. I cannot see an aerial on any pictures of the SHFs but there must be one somewhere! Wingtips the Aboukir MU had produced their own extended tips for the Mk V so could have done so for the IXs. Certainly a couple of photos suggest extended tips but you cannot be sure everywhere. Fuel In almost all operations the SHFs are recorded as having 30 gallon jettisonable British tanks which I assume means the slipper style. Some asides: MA504's period in 80 Squadron was brief and ended with a forced landing on 15 Oct 43 after losing a tyre on take off two pilots of 41 squadron make it to 42,000ft on 24 Sept there is much reference to pilots having to complete decompression chamber tests to fly the SHFs, which are unpressurised I'm happy for any comment, especially if I have missed anything. I'm intending to model a pair but still not decided which

This can be ignored. I have come across the picture again referenced as one of the natural metal finish planes in 1944.

I found a bit more on the 1 SAAF Spitfires on https://biltongbru.wixsite.com/ww2-saaf-heritage which I only realised today has log books on it. I have browsed the log books for two pilots that flew the Modified IXs and one of them has a serial! On 9.9.43 Lt. Frank A "Monty" Montanari flew MA251 and the comment is “Scrambled in special stripped Mk IX blue baby 25,000”. I wonder if that is a hint on the colour, maybe all over PRU blue? link here It is very rare to see serials on the log books I looked at, mostly you just get the single code letter or number. On 2.11.43 Lt. J R "Jack" Spencer flew a Modified IX but it is just listed as "5" link here [Update - ignore this we will come to it in 1944] And by way of a further tease there is this photo in the album for Lt. Cecil Golding which shows a Spitfire without much in the way of armament though as it has no cannons it cannot be one of this flight.

And on to another High Altitude Flight. While searching I came across a reference on the SAAF forum: "sortie report from 6th October 1943. Two high altitude spitfires scrambled to intercept a high flying enemy recce a/c ... the Spitfires were from the high altitude flight, which was assigned to N° 1 squadron .. !! N° 1 squadron at the time was based in Gioia del Colle, Italy.” The flight (temporarily attached to 1 SAAF) was led by Peter Cannam of 145 squadron and had 6 “modified” or “stripped” IXs which had machine guns, armour-plating and IFF removed – no more details. They were tested to 42,000 feet. As this is a SAAF ORB there is not much detail of the aircraft used but it does list pilots for each operation. More than half of the pilots were not SAAF coming from a range of MTO Spitfire squadrons. Fry and Savill who flew the 6 October op were from 92 squadron. The sortie report does give the serial number for Fry's aircraft (MA565) and the aircraft code “6” with no squadron code. There is no more data than that and nothing on the other five. The interception was at 36,000 feet and was a Ju88, claimed as damaged. Savill returned early from the mission with engine trouble so there is no report for him. MA565 picked up some damage too. The flight was attached to 1 SAAF in September at Lentini West (1 SAAF's first flight is 9 September), followed it to Gioia and Pelata before returning to Gioia on 7 November, when 1 SAAF took over its duties. I don’t know where it went after that and I have not found any photographs. This photo on the excellent SAAF photo site was interesting but I think it is more likely to be an VIII. [update: see next post giving more details]

I started with the simple goal of researching another special high altitude spitfire to model after the pair of Natural Metal IXs that are languishing unfinished on my table. I wanted to find something different. When I realised the ORBs were currently free to download I started reading and just kept getting more absorbed by the breadth of the story. One of my other hobbies is online family tree research so digging around looking at data and extracting personal stories is something I already enjoy, this is just a different angle. The more I found the more I realised I wanted it all in one place. Recognising that there was a modelling objective at the end made this forum a natural home. As I get closer to the end of the story I have thought about an appropriate summary and it probably is going to be a list of the planes with my thoughts on colours and modifications. Remembering I am not an expert on Spitfires or modelling!

i was not going to mention too much about Harold Victor Freckelton who had another 1/4 of the Ju86 on 2.7.43 because I have not found out very much. He flew with 145 Squadron in 1942, then with 103MU before heading to Australia with 452 Squadron where he appears in this atmospheric photo.

The other pilot I was going to mention was Harold Rowland Rowlands who shared the Ju86 claim on 2.7.43. He left 451 in September 1943 to become a flight commander in 213 Squadron. I guess he is in this picture from the AWM site along with other 451 officers. He completed his operational tour on 1.3.44 and was posted to 203 Group, which I believe was a training group. As recorded here he was killed in a flying accident on 25.3.44 and received the DFC on 25.4.44 (citation from the London Gazette)

I was just going to add some bios for another couple of pilots and had another look at this photo on the Australian War Memorial site. I was going to share it because it includes Alec Arnel but then I noticed that it includes JA Cox who was lost on 2.4.43 and they are standing in front of a Spitfire V at Idku which should therefore be one of BP981, BP985 or BP987. Obviously no way of telling which one but it has a radio mast and a three-blade prop which should make it a Marker and therefore 981 or 987. Desert colours, red spinner? Alec Arnel reached his 100th birthday last year and he features on page 58 of this magazine. His POW experiences are nicely covered among other on this website though he cannot have sent the Christmas card in 1943 as he wasn’t captured until June 1944!

Just picking up S/Ldr JG West's role. This thread refers to " During August – October 1943, F/Lt Jeff "Shorty" West commanded the 103 MU detachment sent to 94 squadron at Savoia with special high altitude Spitfire IXs, claiming a Bf109G damaged on August 12 and one shot down on August 24". 94's ORB says "They are not attached to us but remain a detachment of 103 M.U. Pilots remained temporarily with 80 squadron on this aerodrome." Hence why West ends up with 80 Squadron when they take over this detachment in September. Added link for a bio

Further up I quoted "Watts lists the aircraft he flew during the period 1-10 Jul 43 as EN399, JK980 and JL228". These three aircraft all fly with 80 Squadron in the autumn of 1943. At the end of August two 80 Squadron pilots are sent to El Gamil to collect JL228 (with JK641) and fly them to a new detachment at Bu-Amud. In September 80 Squadron takes over the 103 MU detachment at Savoia with JK980 and EN399 and are given another 2 IXs to fly from Derna (MA504 and MA456). On 15.09.43 Sgt J Stephen destroys a Ju 88 in EN399. On 16.9.43 Ken Watts arrives from 451 as a flight commander. JK641 is landed in flames on 12.9.43 and not seen again. EN399 and JL228 join 74 Squadron in Cyprus in October. JK980 and MA456 are returned to 103 MU in December. MA504 is force-landed in October and will reappear in this story in 1944. EN399 appears in a photo in the Ventura publicaton The Anzacs but I have not seen it (a copy of the book is on its way from the USA). I understand that EN399 is interpreted as being in Natural Metal in this photo but not having seen it I cannot form a view. JL228 I have not seen it anywhere to comment. (Googling it does produce the Italeri kit that models JL226 as high altitude colours in Italy, but it's not JL228). JK980 is pictured on this thread. No details about when or where it is taken. The DK Decals set interprets the colours as High Altitude fighter but this thread on KeyAero suggests possibly all over blue. This was flown by S/Ldr JG West in October while it was at 80 Squadron. MA456 is pictured on the Australian War Memorial site though at a later date with 451 Squadron and looking fairly standard. The date 1943-03 is definitely wrong. There is finally BS354 to consider. The KeyAero thread refers to "the apparent BS354" as "modified in the Med for high altitude interceptor duties". I have not come across it in that role yet.

Another pilot from 451 Squadron that was also flying with 103MU during this period was F/O GH Purdy. On 13.8.43 flying a Spitfire IX from Aboukir Purdy claimed a damaged Ju88 and this incident is described in 451's ORB. Oddly the shared destruction of a Ju86 by Rowlands the previous month is not mentioned at all!

The previous post suggested that "three Spitfire IX and pilots were detached from 451 to 103 MU. The pilots were F/O Watts, obviously F/O Rowlands and I think F/O A Arnel." As a poster on the topic suggested, the Spitfire IXs cannot have come from 451 Squadron as, at this time, it only operated Hurricanes. A small number of Spitfire Vs were added in July but they were still flying Hurricanes in September. The question of detaching pilots is a more interesting one. All three of the pilots mentioned flew Hurricanes (and Vs) with 451 throughout July and August. Clearly Rowlands and Watts flew IXs in July but those flights are not recorded on the 451 ORB. The obvious option is that they flew for 103MU while still flying for 451.

There is more about the 2.7.43 action on http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=22194 I quote liberally below from that thread. This confirms that F/L Harold Victor Freckelton (RAAF 402793) served with 145 Sqn 1941/42; 103 MU 1942 and also 452 Sqn in 1944/45. I have seen his record in 145 but not elsewhere. He is one of four pilots (with his name misspelled) to claim a Ju-86P N of Alamein, on July 2, 1943 between 1505 and 1540. F/O J Hunter and P/O GT Pratley were with 80 Sqn (in Spitfire Vc E839 and EE840 resp); with F/O Freckelton and F/O Harold Rowland Rowlands of 103 MU, both in Spitfire IXs (serial unknown). Reference is the 80 Sqn ORB, and the Aboukir Station ORB (Air 28/9). The initial attack was made by Freckelton at 1550, 42,300' NE of Aboukir; Spitfire IX BS342 (from his log book). With 145 Sqn Freckelton also claimed a Bf 109 probable, 22/7/42 (this was later confirmed); Spitfire VB AB146/G A book written by the late WK Watts DFC (One Airman's War) mentions this period and it appears that three Spitfire IX and pilots were detached from 451 to 103 MU. The pilots were F/O Watts, obviously F/O Rowlands and I think F/O A Arnel. Watts lists the aircraft he flew during the period 1-10 Jul 43 as EN399, JK980 and JL228. In the last Spitfire he intercepted a Ju86 at 42,800 about 20 miles NW of Benghasi. He fired three bursts but no strikes were observed. I will look next at this last point about 451 Squadron.

I found this one https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235068573-spitfire-ixc-ma466-bq-s-451-sqn-raaf-172/

I have not done an aside for a while. I was just reading about Bing Cross who was responsible for 103 MU in the summer of 1942. This bio from rafweb seems not to be entirely accurate but does give a hint of his remarkable career. It is recorded on unithistories that his brother S/Ldr Ian Cross DFC took part in the Great Escape and was killed by the Gestapo. I think a copy of Straight and Level should be on my reading list.

Just to finish off the details with 74 Squadron, there is reference further up to two wrecks in November. MA399 spun into ground during aerobatics Mustabig on 4.11.43. The pilot, Sgt JG Gray, was killed and buried at Aboukir 2 days later. BS342 was scrambled on 13.11.43 and had engine trouble flying at 16,000ft. The pilot, F/Sgt Harris, managed to get the plane down to 1,000ft when it caught fire. He carried out a successful landing at Mariut before the undercarriage collapsed and suffered slight burns. BS342 is of interest, not just because of the fact that it appears in a photo and seems to be a special Spitfire with extended wingtips, Aboukir filter and possibly reduced armament. It is apparently in the high altitude scheme, unusual for a IX. With BS343 it seems to have been specially earmarked for the Middle East. It seems to have spent two months at 47MU before leaving the UK on its journey that ends in Egypt in April 1943. This is just in time for it to be put to good use against the Ju86s. 103MU damage 2 Ju88s in June but no serials are recorded for these ops. BS342 is the plane used by Harold Victor Freckelton to help shoot down the Ju86 claimed by four pilots (2 from 103MU and 2 Hurricanes from 80 Squadron) on 2.7.43. We cannot be sure of the specification of BS342 in July and the photo is from September. I think it is reasonable to assume that the armament and armour changes would have been made as they are consistent across 103MU’s involvement and there is no visible radio mast so this should be a Striker. The High Altitude scheme came in during June 1943. I assume that BS342 would have left the UK in desert scheme as it was intended for the Middle East. Would this have been applied at the MU before departure? The High Altitude scheme could have been applied in June or when it leaves 103MU on its way to 238 Squadron.

I should have been more patient with 74 squadron. It's only in October they do not have serial numbers. In November it's a different subject: BS342, MA455, MA399, EN399, EN843, MA435, LZ894 are all listed.