[AUS_RAAF]

Hi Tom,

Since that previous posting about the claims I have also obtained a copy of 253 Squadron’s ORB and cannot find any link or mention to the claims on 9th and 17th March.

The entries in Stening’s logbook were written in black ink, however the mention of claims had been filled in with blue ink (see Italics below). This could suggest these were additions written after the fact.

RAF aerial victories would have been rare around this period so it does seem strange that such events did not rate a mention in the records. Similarly, both victories were shared. Not sure if they were ground claims? Plenderleith and Pawsey shared a He111 on 3rd March 44 so perhaps this was confused with that on the 17th??

Stening’s diary for the 9th “Four of us did dawn shipping recco. Didn’t see anything much but a bit of flak. Flew to Cape Linarno & came home.” and the 17th “Flew escort to ‘Spit’ bombers again. Bombed Viareggio ‘F’ boat works. Some hits on the factory. No flak or enemy fighters. Jerry seems very quiet these days.” So no mention of claims here. I have checked some of the surrounding entries and these seem to correlate with events in the ORB so the diary dates seem otherwise accurate, eg Munro bailed out after attacking a boat on the 8th.

I will have another look through the diary to see whether the claims show up on other dates. Until then these are the logbook entries.

9th March Spitfire V, SW-B – Shipping Recco 1.30 hrs. Some Flak. Claim 1/5 SM.82 destroyed.

17th March Spitfire Mk.V, SW-P – Escort to Spit bombers to Viareggio 1.35 hrs. Hits on factory. Claim ½ Heinkel IIIK Des.

Stening piloted SW-P/LZ976 on 30 Oct 43, 7 Jan 44, 10 Jan 44, 21 Jan 44, 28 Feb 44 and 17 Mar 44 – SW-B/JK739 on 2 Nov 43, 3 Nov 43 (5th in ORB), 16 Jan 44 and 9 Mar 44

Both aircraft were flown by fellow Australians Kenneth Dear, Bernard Gerke, Bowman Morris and Norman Delaney.

Stening was from Cowell, a small town north west of South Australia’s capital city Adelaide. He passed away 17th Sept 1995.

Hope this helps.

regards, Drew