Warbird Information Exchange

Erks are seen painting invasion stripes on a Spitfire Mk. IXB coded DB*R from No. 411 'Grizzly Bear' (F) Squadron on the 5th of June at R.A.F. Station Tangmere, Sussex. Preparing Spitfires for D-Day, 411 Squadron RCAF ground crew members apply invasion stripes to Spitfire Mk. IXe Thirty-seven RCAF squadrons participate in D-Day operations in Normandy, France.


According to the book Spitfire, The Story of A Famous Fighter by Bruce Robertson (1960) Spitfire MK304 ("Y2-K" of 442 Sqn) was built by Vickers-Armstrong at Castle Bromwich as an L.F. IX with a Rolls Royce Merlin 66 engine. L.F. stood for Low altitude Fighter role.
When the above aero-maintenance crew of Fitters attached to Group Captain G.R. McGregor's Canadian airfield in Normandy read a newspaper item in which another Canuck gang of Fitters claimed their twelve and a half hour Spitfire engine change as a record, they were indignant. They can do the job in nine hours flat any time they claim and were proving it when the photo was taken. (RCAF photos)




403 Sqn Spitfire, wearing D Day stripes, that had the misfortune to be shot down in a mine field. Piloted by F/O S.A. Tosh, Almonte, Ontario, he was shot down by flak, landing over a mine. The Repair and Salvage Unit removed the plane from the mine, and the mines were carefully detonated and a road was built. (RCAF photo)


Stu Tosh may have been a former 130 Sqd pilot at Mont-Joli losing his CO on July 5/6th 1942. He moved to Bagotville with 130 Sqd before going overseas.


July 19th, three were shot up by American flak, Stu was the only to crash land, the others landed at American ALGs.


Supermarine Spitfire PR Mk XI of No. 541 Squadron RAF based at Benson, Oxfordshire, July 1944.

OOOH LOVELY!!!! Thanks for posting (they're striped and stripped!!)

Saw a video the other day of Peter Monk's son painting invasion stripes on one their Spitfires and explaining that it was all done free hand or with rollers - when I think of the care with which I masked up my 1/48th kits when painting invasion stripes on them!

Thanks for the pics Mark - and thank you to all those who liberated Europe. The greatest generation...

(Speaking to a friend recently, as a young Army regular his dad was evacuated from Dunkirk, fought in North Africa and then took part in the invasion of Italy, then participated in D Day... My friend said his dad never wanted to talk about any of it but how he wishes he had. My grandad volunteered in 1914, got booted out and told to come back when he was 16 then served in France as a private, staying in the Army for 25 years, including evacuation from Dunkirk, until he was medically retired as a Captain around 1943. Wish I had known him...)

Y2-K looks a bit cleaner these days (at least our version of it), although I've been smashing a lot of bugs with it.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/nHfFx4mXbqU?si=TtDVQ9M0HgnPK00J[/youtube]

Y2-K looks a bit cleaner these days (at least our version of it), although I've been smashing a lot of bugs with it.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/nHfFx4mXbqU?si=TtDVQ9M0HgnPK00J[/youtube]

https://youtu.be/nHfFx4mXbqU?si=TtDVQ9M0HgnPK00J

Below a British Supermarine Spitfire fighter receives maintenance from mechanics of U.S. Navy Cruiser Scouting Squadron Seven (VCS-7), which used these planes to spot Naval gunfire during the June 1944 Normandy invasion. Men present are (from left to right): James J. O'Connor; C.N. Pfanenstiel; Chief Aviation Machinist's Mate V.G. Disa; Aviation Machinist's Mate Third Class R.P. Theirauld; and Edmund Pachgio. VCS-7 switched from their usual Curtiss SOC Seagull floatplanes to British Supermarine Spitfire fighters - given the paper designation "FS-1" by the U.S. Navy - during the Normandy operation. VCS-7 was based at Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire (UK), and drew planes from a pool of Supermarine Spitfire of Seafire fighters. The squadron flew a total of 191 sorties between 6 and 25 June 1944, losing one aircraft to ground fire. The "kill" marking below the cockpit was applied by a previous user.






Spitfire of the VCS-7 led by Lieutenant Commander William Denton, D-Day 6 June 1944





r

PL30259
UKL2034
8 June 1944

A captured German helmet over the muzzle of his cannon and a German motorbike obtained on a visit to the front line are
now the property of Flight Officer H.W. "Bud" Bowker, Granby, Que. He
is seen here working on the guns of the Spitfire he flies with an
Royal Canadian Air Force Squadron in France.

June 8, 1944, a captured German helmet over the muzzle of his Spitfire cannon and a German motorbike (a French 'Terrot' model) obtained on a visit to the front line are now the property of Flying Officer H.W. ‘Bud’ Bowker [of] Granby, Quebec (RCAF 412 Squadron). KIA July 2, 1944


SPITFIRE (VIEWED AT 382 FIGHTER SQD)

Wing Commander J E 'Johnnie' Johnson, commanding No. 144 (Canadian) Wing, on the the wing of his Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX with his Labrador retriever Sally, at Bazenville, Normandy, 31 July 1944.


Personnel at a RAF Repair and Salvage Unit working on a damaged Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX of No 403 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, at a forward airstrip in Normandy France - June 1944.

Spitfire LF-IXB 453 Sqn RAAF FU-V NH274 at ALG11 Longues France July 1944. Photo taken by Flt Sgt Allan Dowding. His wife's name (Kathleen Mary) is under the cockpit.

That invasion-striped Mk.1 is the pick of the bunch for me, with that K9 serial it would have to be a Southampton built Mk.1 with a pre-war construction date, one of the first batch. Don't think I've ever seen a Mk.1 in D-Day stripes before.

Those are GREAT Mark!

Tks again for sharing.

Love the different historical perspective they give.

Ground work was key for the fighting at all levels.

Cheers!

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