Tony Whittingham Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Hello All, I have a cousin who served in 241 squadron right at the end of the war, flying out of Bellaria, Italy. He was on Spitfire LF9. Does anyone have photos they could share? I need to match serials with aircraft letters if possible. TW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seawinder Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 You're probably already aware of these because they were an easy find online: RZ-U MT634 (numerous profiles, pointed rudder) RZ-U MH365 (rounded rudder, color photo via Wikipedia, also showing:) RZ-H MA425 (rounded rudder) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Combat Codes has MA425 as RZ.R Coastal, Support etc Squadrons has MA425 as RZ.V, MK425 as RZ.R. Plus another eight serial with no codes. It includes an unclear photo of two of the squadron's Mk.IXs (round rudder) flying past Vesuvius. the nearest one is xx425 but the code is unclear and the serial prefix letters invisible. A better copy may help. MK425 is not recorded in Spitfire the History as being with 241 Sq, MA425 is. Air Britain has it with 241 then 72, lost 4.10.44. Possibly not your cousin's time? MT634 is not listed as a Mk.IX Spitfire. Air Britain has it as a Mk.VIII, initially with 241 then 92 then 145, shot down by flak 20.4.45. So probably not your cousin's time. MH365 is not listed with 241 Sq but only 19 I've found several photos from the Vesuvius photo-op including colour ones, from which it should be possible to read the codes and the serials but I can't. Bing also came up with a colour profile of MT634 showing it as a Mk.VIII. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 (edited) Two colour photos of RZ-R and RZ-U flying over Vesuvius in "the early afternoon of 27 Jan 1944" in Roger Freeman's The Royal Air Force Of WW2 In Colour. Pilots F/O H Cogman and F/O JV Macdonald respectively. RZ-U normal mount of F/L AMS Steedman who crashed it on the Vesuvius landing strip on 11 Feb 44 after engine failure. The caption gives RZ-R as MA425 and RZ-U as MH653. The photos are credited to the IWM and I suspect that the detailed captions came with them, hence the idents are (barring copying errors) likely to be correct. Air-Britain lists both serials as serving with 241 Sq but doesn't mention the 11/2/44 incident but the aircraft may have been repaired. From the photos I can just about make out MA425 but can't hazard a guess at RZ-U's serial. Details from the photos: Both Spitfire IXc Both apparently with full-span wings (though I couldn't absolutely swear to that) Both in Day Fighter Colours (Ocean Grey, Dark Green and Medium Sea Grey) with Sky tail band but no Yellow wing leading edge strips. Black spinner on RZ-R, Sky on RZ-U. Red codes on both, of a size slightly smaller than normal. I'd guess at 20", quite common on Spitfires. In both photos both aircraft appear to have the earlier, rounded rudder. RZ-R has a prominent red fabric patch over the flare port on the starboard rear fuselage, RZ-U, as far as i can tell, doesn't. Edited January 20, 2021 by Seahawk Typo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmcgill Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Some 241 Squadron photos on the IWM website (click) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Whittingham Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 Thanks, All! My cousin arrived very late in the war. As he was RCAF, he went to 417 Sqdn. first, which was at Bellaria, and then must have walked across the field on transfer to 241 Sqdn., which was also there. I have the ORB for the squadron for the first quarter of 1945, which lists approximately 20 Spitfires he flew, mostly LF9c, LF9e with MH, MJ, NH, PT, SM prefixed serials. Unfortunately the person writing up the ORB omitted any aircraft letters. 😟 I’m hoping to find a photo of just one of the 20. regards, TW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seawinder Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 FWIW, this is the Wikimedia Commons photo whose caption info I quoted above: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spitfire_IXs_241_Sqn_RAF_south_of_Rome_1944.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Whittingham Posted January 21, 2021 Author Share Posted January 21, 2021 hello @Seawinder, Looks as if the squadron codes are red with white outlines, any thoughts? TW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seawinder Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 33 minutes ago, Tony Whittingham said: hello @Seawinder, Looks as if the squadron codes are red with white outlines, any thoughts? TW It does appear that way (although the photo's rather blurry), but I have no doubt there are others here with way more expertise than I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 There are more photos of this pair flying by Vesovio So definitely no white outline in codes and standard wingspan J-W 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Whittingham Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 Thanks for the help, gents! 241 Squadron is one of the shy ones, not too much on the web. TW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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