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Re: Darwin Spitfires
Hi Keith
Since no one else has responded I will endeavour to help!
A rough check shows that 1 Spitfire Wing was credited with 74 confirmed, 22 probables and 52 damaged in 1943, broken down as:
457 Squadron 28-9-20
54 Squadron 22 plus one shared, 6-20
452 Squadron 15-7-11
Wg Cdr Caldwell 7 plus one shared
Grp Capt Walters 1
I have yet to complete a detailed study and the above figures may be slightly inaccurate.
On 7/9/43 54 Squadron claimed 2 damaged; 452 Squadron: 1-1-3, and 457 Squadron: 4-1-2
Scorers: 54 Sqn: Appleton 1 damaged, Leonard 1 damaged
452 Sqn: Goldsmith 1 destroyed; Cowell 1 probable; King, Coombes and Bassett each 1 damaged
457 Sqn: MacLean 1 destroyed, 1 damaged; Watson 1 destroyed; Smithson 1 destroyed; Gregory/White 1 destroyed; MacKenzie 1 probable; Batchelor 1 damaged.
Hope this helps.
Maybe you or one of the other Aussie experts can help me with a query that has baffled me for many years! In the Australian publication RAAF LOG, pages 90-94, there is an account of a RAAF Spitfire pilot baling out following a combat with a Zeke during this period, named in the article as Brian Lambert. I have been unable to find a pilot of this name nor such an incident as described in the article. Can you help?
Cheers from chilly and damp England
Brian
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