127 Squadron, 132 Wing, RAF.
Woensdrecht, B-79, Holland.
After completing additional training in England at Bournemouth, Innsworth, and Turn Hill, George was transferred to an Operational Training Unit at Kirton-in-Lindsay on 11 Sept 1944. Here it starts getting serious as George is now training on Spitfires, the most advanced front line fighter in the Royal Air Force. His first flight in a Spitfire was on 17 September 1944 in a Mk Vb. Below is an aerial view of Kirton-in-Lindsay taken in 1948.
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Kirton-in-Lindsay, 1948. Image from Wikipedia.
On 24 Dec 1944, after completing his Operational Training, George was transferred to his first fully operational combat fighter Squadron; RAF 127 Squadron stationed at B-79, near Antwerp in Holland.
A typical RAF, RCAF, and US fighter squadron comprised about 200 men in support of from 12 to 18 fighter aircraft. Of the 200 men within the Squadron, approximately 18 to 30 were pilots.
127 Squadron, 132 Wing RAF; 24 Dec 1944 - 3 Feb 1945.
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At the time that George arrived, 127 Squadron was located at Woensdrecht, Advanced Landing Ground, B-79, near Antwerp in Holland. The designation B-79 is the Airfield Number. B was used to prefix British bases, while A was used to prefix American bases. Woensdrecht had just been captured from the Germans that month. At the time of capture the Germans were using the base for Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft. Before that, the base was home to Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. Both the Fw 190 and the Bf 109 were formidable opponents in the hands of a good pilot.
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George was assigned to RAF 127 Squadron from Dec 24, 1944 to Feb 3, 1945. The War was very active during that period as The Battle of The Bulge, the German's last major offensive of the War, had just started eight days before George arrived. The Battle of the Bulge was designed by Hitler to deny the Allies access to the strategic port of Antwerp.
During his stay with 127 George got his first taste of combat: escorting bombers, dive bombing railroads and bridges, and strafing targets of opportunity. George flew 13 combat missions (sorties) while assigned to 127 Squadron.
While with 127 George flew the Mk. XVI Spitfire. More on the Mk XVI later in this post.
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The above picture was taken in December 1944 while George was with 127 Squadron. At that time the Squadron was located at B-60, Grimbergen, Holland. George is in the back row, once again....second from the left. A Mk. XVI Spitfire provides a nice background for the photo. Note the camouflage netting over the aircraft.
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403 Squadron, 127 Wing, RCAF.
Petit Brogel, B-90, Belgium.
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On 3 February 1945 George was posted the to RCAF 403 Squadron of 127 Canadian Wing located at base B-56, Brussels, Belgium. 127 Wing comprised three RCAF squadrons; 403, 416, and 443. The Wing was lead by Wing Commander James (Johnnie) Edgar Johnson of the RAF, who was credited with 34 victories by the end of the war. He was the highest scoring Allied fighter 'ace' against the German Luftwaffe. The term 'ace' was unofficial, but was commonly used to describe an Allied pilot who had accumulated 5 or more victories. Click on this link to learn more about W/C Johnnie Johnson.
The leader of 403 Squadron at the time was Squadron Leader Hank Zary. Click here to learn more about S/L Zary.
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On 1 Mar 1945, 403 Squadron was moved about 100 km east of Brussels to B-90, Petit Brogel. George was now roughly 44 km from the German border.
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A very nicely colourized image of 403 Squadron taken at Petit Brogel in March 1945. George is to the far right in the back row.
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This image comes from an excellent web site developed by Pierre Lagacé of Quebec. Click on the following hyperlink to be taken to https://rcaf403squadron.wordpress.com/
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The above two images provide a lot of very of interesting information. Both images come from Pierre Lagacé's web site.
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In this text box I'll focus on the image on the left. It shows a Spitfire Mk. XVI, clearly showing the code KH-J. The way the coding on the side of the fuselage of a British fighter works is that the first two letters designate the squadron, in this case KH is unique to 403 squadron, and the last letter is unique to the aircraft within the squadron. So, the above aircraft is 'J' of 403 squadron.
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If you look closely you will see smaller text to the right of the J. That is the production serial number of airframe. Serial numbers were assigned by the RAF Air Ministry, and were applied at the factory. At this time in the production of Spitfires the serial numbers were normally two letters followed by three numbers. In the above image we can only see the first three characters of the serial number; SM3??. The last two numbers are covered by the tail band that, in this case, was overpainted in the field with black. Tail bands on RAF and RCAF aircraft from the factory were painted a pale green colour that the British called Sky Type S.
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Why does all this matter? Well, as we will see, when George was forced to land in Germany on March 15th, he was flying KH-M, serial number SM313. A little bit of research revealed that the aircraft shown above was built at the same time and in the same factory as the one that George flew on his last combat mission. George's Spitfire would have looked almost exactly the same as the one shown above. For example, the image confirms that George's Spitfire had a conventional canopy as opposed to the bubble canopy fitted to most Mk XVIs. We are fortunate to have this image to study.
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To provide a little bit of detail about the Spitfire Mk XVI:
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At the outset I'll point out that the engine in a Mk XVI Spitfire, while definitely the famous Merlin as designed by Rolls-Royce, was actually built under license in Detroit, Michigan, by the Packard Motor Car Company. The engine in Mk XVI Spitfires is commonly referred as the Packard Merlin 266.
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The airframe itself is exactly the same as the MK IX Spitfire, which is regarded by many as the best and most beautiful Spitfire ever made. The most significant difference between the Mk IX and the Mk XVI is that the engines in Mk IXs were built by Rolls-Royce, and were commonly referred to as a Rolls Royce Merlin 66, while the engines in Mk XVIs were built by Packard and were referred to as Packard Merlins.
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Late versions of the Mk IX, and most variants of the Mk XVI, had bubble canopies, which are frequently referred to as "rear view canopy" in my reference books. As it turns out SM313 had the conventional 'razor back' canopy associated with most Mk IXs, and as shown in the above image.
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Engine: Packard Merlin 266, 27 litre displacement, V12 cylinder configuration, two stage inter-cooled supercharger (approximately 25 lb. of boost), 1580 hp.
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Propeller: Rotol Hydraulic 4 blade constant speed, 10'9" diameter.
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Armament: 2 x 20 mm Hispano canons, 2 x 50 calibre Browning machine guns.
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Maximum speed: 405 mph / 657 km/h
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Length: 31'3"/ 9.5m
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Wing span: 32'7" / 9.9m. Note: The wings of a Mk XVI typically had clipped wing tips which shortened the wing span from the normal 36'10" to 32'7". This improved low altitude performance and roll rate.
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Height: 11'8"/ 3.6m
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Gross weight: 8288 lb. / 3759 kg
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With reference to the image on the right:
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Sitting on the horizontal stabilizer of a Mk XVI is Flying Officer (F/O) Arthur Van Rensselaer Sainsbury. Van Sainsbury was from Toronto and was a very accomplished fighter pilot.
As it turned out, George was flying as Van Sainsbury's wingman (they flew as a pair) when his engine blew up and he was forced to land. Van Sainsbury accompanied George as he attempted to reach the Rhine and cross into friendly territory. When George ran out of altitude and airspeed at about the same time he radioed up to Van Sainsbury that he was okay and on the deck. Sainsbury's response was "Good show, so long and good luck."
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Click on this line of text to be taken to Pierre Lagacé's Blog for more information on Van Sainsbury
That's me sitting on the nose of a Spitfire. Parachute and helmet on the wing
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This is the cockpit of a Mk IX Spitfire which is essentially identical to that of the Mk XVI variant that George flew. The flying and engine controls are relatively straight forward for any experienced pilot, but the Ferranti Mk II Gyroscopic Gun Sight sitting on the top of the instrument panel was a technical marvel in 1945. It used gyroscopes, lenses, lights, and mirrors to provide the pilot with the exact deflection and elevation angle required to hit a moving target while you too were moving. It was a 'point and shoot' system. It worked perfectly.
F/O Byrd my room mate & I taken near our barracks.
The above images show George and his room mate, Flying Officer (F/O) Hank Byrd of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The picture would have been taken somewhere near the B-90 airfield at Petit Brogel in Belgium. The upper image comes from a photograph that George had saved. The lower image comes from Pierre Lagacé's web site.
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I am reminded of the reality of war every time I look at these images. On March 15, 1945, shortly after the above two images were taken, George was forced down and captured, and four days after that, on March 19th, F/O Byrd was killed in action in Holland. He was 28 years old.
Out of respect for F/O Byrd's memory, the Dutch mounted a search for the remnants of F/O Byrd's Spitfire. Recently they were able to locate the crash site. Click here to be taken to Pierre Lagacé's site to read more on F/O Byrd and the crash site.
Occasionally there was time for fun. This is an excerpt from his log for 12 March 1945. He was flying a Mk XVI Spitfire, code KH-K. "25 LBS BOOST 390 MPH straight & level from deck to 1000'". To put things in perspective, the turbo charger in most of today's street legal cars add about 10 to 12 pounds of boost when spooled up,15 pounds of boost would be considered by most car enthusiasts as a lot of boost. George had the inter-cooled supercharger of his 27 litre, 12 cylinder, Merlin engine wound up to 25 pounds; the boost gauge in a Mk XVI Spitfire maxes out at 25 pounds. He was moving very rapidly!
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Those who knew George will have a hard time believing that he piloted a Spitfire, or anything else for that matter, to 390 mph. That's 627 km/h!
Extracts from 403 Squadron's Operations Record Book (ORB) for March 1945
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The above image shows Page 1 of the monthly record for March 1945. It is a summary of events. Under the heading "Casualties for Month" George and F/O Byrd are both listed as "Missing", as are F/O M Reeves, F/L Aitchison, and F/L T.S. Todd. March 1944 was not a good month for RCAF 403 Squadron. Click here to be taken to Pierre's posting on the month of March 1944. Click here to be taken to Pierre's Blog on Grant Aitchison.
Note that the ORB record is signed by 403 Squadron's Commanding Officer, Squadron Leader H. P. M. Zary.
Above is the ORB record for March 15, 1945. It states that the mission that day was "C.C.11 Escort to Mitchells and Bostons on Dorsten" (Note 1). The Details of the mission read as follow: "One early return mechanical trouble. 1 Spit crash landed in Germany. Pilot WO1 G.V. Boudreau believe uninjured. Bombing good. 1 bomber hit by flack went down in flames A.2849. Three parachutes seen to come out. W/O. Boudreau had engine failure and crash landed A.1858. Called on R/T after landing that he was O.K. Heavy flack on target." (Note 2)
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This page also confirms that when he was forced down George was flying a Mk XVI Spitfire with serial number SM313. George's log confirms that the squadron code of the aircraft was KH-M.
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At the time that he was forced down in Germany George had logged 1,473:30 hours as a pilot.
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Note 1: I'm still working on what C.C. 11 means.
Note 2: "R/T" is an abbreviation for Radio Transmitter.
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