[VoyTech]

R7161 was built as a Mk I and converted to Mk VB in early 1941.
From early April 1941 it was used in No. 92 Sqn, coded QJ-J. There is a well known official photo of the Spitfire from that period (ref. no. CH3549).
On 7 August 1941 it crash-landed near Deal, Sgt G. P. Hickman was injured.
Repaired, R7161 was delivered to No. 315 (Polish) Sqn at Northolt in late 1941. It was coded PK-Y. On 13 March it was damaged cat. B in a taxiing collision with Sgt M. Cwynar at the controls (uninjured). There are photos of that collision in the book "315 Squadron" published by MMP.
Its subsequent fates are obscure until mid-1943 when it was probably in storage at No. 6 MU. In mid-July it was delivered to No. 3501 SU at Cranfield for modification, and subsequently delivered to No. 308 (Polish) Sqn.
(Some publications claim it also served with No. 303 Sqn as a Mk I, but that is a confusion with R7162.)

Olgierd Ilinski (P.0389) was born on 16 July 1914 in Russia. He was commissioned from the Polish Air Force College on 1 September 1939. Following the Polish campaign he reached France (via Rumania and the Mediterranean). He was posted with a group of Polish pilots to the observer school at Versailles, and then to the school at Bussac near Bordeaux. Following the French surrender he was evacuated to Britain. In May 1941 he was posted to No. 55 OTU. Upon completion of training he was posted to No. 605 Sqn RAF in June, and in July 1941 reposted to No. 302 (Polish) Sqn, moving to No. 303 Sqn a week later. In August 1941 he was reposted again, to No. 308 Sqn. In February 1942 he was injured in a car accident and hospitalised, returning to No. 308 Sqn in May 1942. Upon completion of a combat tour in December 1942 he was posted to No. 58 OTU as an instructor. In June 1943 he rejoined No. 308.