SHORT BUT EFFECTIVE CAREER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 16 May 1941, Page 7

SHORT BUT EFFECTIVE CAREER

; SPITFIRE PRESENTED BYOBSERVER CORPS l j | British Official Wireless! Rugby, May 14. The story of how a Spitfire which I was presented to the Fighter Command j b> members of the Royal Observer Corps accounted in various engagej menes for three Messerschmitt 109’s i before it was destroyed recently in a fight against odds, is told by the Air Ministry. The Spitfire was first flown by a ! souadron’s commanding officer, and when the squadron went into combat j with nine Messerschmitt 109's, the coms manding officer got their first victim, 3 which was shot down from 20,000 feet. j Two days later the squadron carried - out a surprise attack, the Observer 3 Corps’ Spitfire leading, and shot down eight Messerschmitt 109’s in the sea off Dover. On this occasion the command- : ing officer shot down his second enemy s plane. Some time later the same Spitfire was flown by a pilot who had already 1 shot down three Junkers 8755, and one Messerschmitt 109. With its new pilot ‘ it became engaged with a large forma- • tion of Messerschmitt 109’s. The pilot Hying the Observer Corps’ Spitfire was attacked, and went into a vertical dive for some 20.000 feet. By brilliant hand--1 ling he pulled the machine out of the s dive and a pursuing Messerschmitt ■ piunged past it into the sea. That day / the R.A.F. squadron lost no machines. 2 but at least five Messerschmitt 109’s s were destroyed and some damaged. ? The Observer Corps’ Spitfire’s final action took place some days ago, when the flight was attacked by a superior force of Messerschmitt 109’s, and it ended its short but effective career in the sea. The pilot was rescued. « Another Spitfire given by the Royal Observer Corps had already taken part • in offensive patrols over north France, and had also been part of escorts for uccessful bomber operations.