Andrew Critchell - A Tale of Ten Spitfires: The Combat Histories of Spitfire VCs AR501 to AR510

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A Tale of Ten Spitfires

For my two wingmen, Ben and Ryan.

A Tale of Ten Spitfires

Spitfire V verses the Fw190 - The combat histories of Supermarine Spitfire Vcs AR501 to AR510

Andrew Critchell

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by

PEN AND SWORD AVIATION

an imprint of

Pen and Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright Andrew Critchell, 2018

ISBN 978 152672 809 8

eISBN: 978 152672 810 4

Mobi ISBN: 978 152672 811 1

The right of Andrew Critchell to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword

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Family History, History, Maritime, Military, Naval, Politics, Railways,

Select, Social History, Transport, True Crime, Claymore Press,

Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press, Remember When,

Seaforth Publishing and Wharncliffe.

For a complete list of Pen and Sword titles please contact

Pen and Sword Books Limited

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

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Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Contents

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to many people for helping me research and write this book. Firstly, I actually have to thank my wife for putting up with seemingly endless nights and weekends with me stuck in front of the computer while the house fell into neglect and disrepair around me, and also my two boys for those times when Dad had his grumpy face on because at that point he would also have rather been having a Nerf battle!

I have been humbled by the research communitys willingness to help on this project. Firstly, Zdenk Hurt has been an invaluable source of assistance with pictures and details of Czech pilots serving with the ) for their expertise and photographs on the same subject.

The aircrew remembrance society does a sterling job in keeping alive the memories and sacrifices made by so many in those dark years and I am grateful for the assistance and pictures given by Melvin Brownless. Also thanks to Kelvin Youngs and Roy Wilcock of aircrewremembered.com for their assistance and pictures and who also keep these important memories alive.

Thank you also to Aldon Ferguson who helped with many details and photographs regarding our Spitfires time with 611 Squadron. Michael Lewis provided insights into relevant incidents and pilots from 610 Squadron which was also extremely helpful.

The great benefits of social media and the internet were highlighted when I was able to contact Ffran May-Prigent, a teacher in Guisseny in northern France, off the back of an eight-year-old post on a forum, and from there be able to fill in many details of the story of the Smith brothers from Australia who were involved with AR506, and I would like to thank both Ffran and researcher Herv Peaudecerf for their assistance.

Another online lead led to contact with Joan Foster, the daughter of Canadian ace John Mitch Mitchner, victories in AR505, and I am very grateful for the time that Joan gave me, which has helped to tell so much more of his story.

Thanks also to the staff of the US Air Force Historical Support Division who helped tie in the 93rd Bomb Group with the Czech Wings second mission of 7 November 1942 within a response time of just a few hours!

I would also like to thank the following authors and researchers who have taken time to respond to my enquiries and offered either tips, advice, information, or permissions to use extracts from their own works, all of which have helped to deepen the story: Peter Arnold, Martin Bowman, Donald Caldwell, Anthony Cooper, Chris Goss, Jim Greaves at Shuttleworth, Michael Lewis, Andrew Pentland ( airhistory.org.uk ) and John Weal. Thanks also to Shaun Barrington for allowing me to use extracts from Dilip Sarkars book Spitfire Ace of Aces and to Scott Stewart who kindly allowed me to quote from his late fathers 93rd Bomb Group history - Teds Travelling Circus by Carroll W. (Cal) Stewart.

Finally, a big thank you to Laura Hirst, my editor Ken Patterson, and all the team at Pen & Sword books who have made this book possible!

Authors note: for completeness, sources and further information that may be of interest, but which did not fit in the narrative, have been added as footnotes at the back of the book. However, it was felt that some pieces of additional information were important enough to warrant inclusion in the main text and these have been added there as authors notes.

Introduction

The introduction into combat of the Focke Wulf Fw190A on the channel coast in the spring of 1942 heralded one of the biggest shake ups to effect daylight fighter and bomber operations for the RAF in northern Europe during the Second World War.

The Fw190As supremacy over the main operational Fighter Command type at the time, the Supermarine Spitfire V, has become one of the great legends of the Second World War. The reign of the new German fighter would last well into 1943, and only be challenged by the widespread introduction into service of what was arguably the most successful variant of Supermarines design, the Spitfire IX.

The RAFs top scoring fighter pilot, James Johnnie Johnson, was in the thick of the fighting at this time. In early July 1942, with six aerial victories to his credit, Johnson was posted to command 610 Squadron, a Spitfire V unit flying shipping recons, intruder patrols and bomber escorts into northern Europe, and he was therefore well placed to comment on the impact of the Fw190 on RAF operations; twenty and a third of his eventual thirty-eight and a half confirmed victories were against the Fw190, making him the most successful RAF ace against the new German fighter. Commenting on the state of play in spring 1942 he later said:

The 190 was causing us real problems at this time. We could out-turn it, but you couldnt turn all day. As the number of 190s increased, so the depth of our penetrations deceased. They drove us back to the coast.

(Authors note: Air Vice-Marshall James Edgar Johnnie Johnson, CB, operations over northern France until he was shot down in error by another 616 Squadron pilot during a hectic dogfight on 9 August 1941. The pilot in question was Lionel H. Buck Casson, who was then prompty shot down himself by a Bf 109F of JG 26, to become a prisoner of war.)

Fighter Command was so shaken by the performance of the Fw190, that in July 1942, Air Chief Marshal Sir William Sholto Douglas, the Commands Commander in Chief, was moved to write that, there is no doubt in my mind, nor in the minds of my fighter pilots, that the Fw190 is the best all-round fighter in the world today.

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