16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses

[Franek Grabowski]

Adriano
Ian Shand passed away a few years ago in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe by then. I think I have a photo of him somewhere, taken in April 1943.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Hello Franek!
It would be nice!
P/O Bruce Edward Anderson ( J/17616 ) was killed on 25th April 1943, I think he was the then F/Sgt ANDERSON, mentioned earlier.
Anybody has a clue about the names of the pilots shot down?
Adriano

[CENTURION]

Hello Adriano,

out of the four Spitfires lost that day in Tunisia, one (flown by FOW. K. Clarke of the 111 Squadron, KIA, probably ER502) is shot down at about 7 pm near Beja during a fight with Me109s and therefore it's not related to the fight we are describing.
The other three are shot down near Cap Bon. One was flown by Wg. Cdr. I. R. "Widge" Gleed of the 145th Squadron (KIA, IR-G AB502); the other two by his wingman, Sgt. J. K. Rostant (seen by another pilot bailing out) and by an unknown pilot (ER116 and ER858).
According to Italian pilots, one of the Spitfire pilots they claimed, was rescued by the torpedo-boat Libra.


Regards
Marco

[Franek Grabowski]

Marco, Widge Gleed was Wing Commander, sorry, forget the number at the moment.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Hello Marco!
Thanks again for clarifying the Air Combats over the Desert on that day!
I first thought that JG 77 had claimed 4 Spits ( from your first post here ). Now you clarified that possibly ER502 was shot down on another combat, much later, which brings new light to the combat I am researching.
W/C Gleed´s service number is RAFO 37800. He was promoted F/L on 3 September 1940; got the DFC on 13 September the same year and was promoted S/L on the 1 September 1941. I do not got his promotion to full Wing Commander and actually do guess he was Acting Wing Commander. ( Will check later ).
By the way, he was OC of 244 Wing and I read somewhere that:
1- He was homosexual ( is that information correct ?)
2- That there was an OC of 244 Wing who was later killed ( but I did not find anything about him ) named W/C Jack Darwin. Does anybody have heard about him?
Thanks a lot for the help. By the way Marco, any clues against which Luftwaffe or Italian Squadron that 111 Squadron pilot faced on his last combat? ( 7 PM )
Yours
Adriano

[Chris Goss]

33237 Wg Cdr John 'Jackie' Darwen was CO 244 Wg from Apr-Jun 42 then 243 Wg and back to 244 Wg until Mar 43. KIA 7 Oct 43 with 239 Wg

[CENTURION]

Hello Adriano,

It seems that at about 19:20 noth of Beja, the Spitfires of the 111st Squadron, together with planes of the 72nd Squadron, engaged a formation of 23 FW190 of the III./SKG10 escorted by Me109s of the JG53. The German planes were returning from a bombing mission over the Souk el Arba airfield.
PO Kirkwood of the 111st Squadron claimed one Bf109 and Fl. Lt. Gale one probable; FO Hardy of the 72nd Squadron also claimed one probable.
One Spitfire was claimed (evidently FOW. K. Clarke) by Fw. Frankenberger of II/JG53. JG53 may have claimed another Spitfire, but I don't have any detail.
One FW190 of the III./SKG10 damaged by anti-aircraft fire, belly landed 10km south west of Mateur.


Regards
Marco

[VoyTech]

F/Lt Shand (left) photographed with S/Ldr Skalski in 1943 in Africa.

CENTURION: RAF squadrons used cardinal numbers (No. 145 Sqn) not ordinal numbers ("the 145th Sqn"). USAAF used ordinal numbers for their units.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Chris, thanks for the correct name of G/C "Jackie" Darwen. May I ask you if you do have information about his loss on 07th October 1943? ( Acft number and codes, for example? ). He was OC 239 Wing, but I do not know if he was flying a Kittihawk or a Mustang that day.
MARCO: Thanks again for the 111 Squadron inforamation. I do have all 3 JG 53 books by PRIEN back home and can take a careful look to match the losses and claims that day. I will post it here, as soon as I got home ( I am now some 3.000 km away from home ).
VOYTECH: I do not know your name, but thanks for posting a picture of F/L Shand from 145 Squadron. Very kind of yours.
May I ask both of you if the name of SGT J K ROSTANT is the correct name? I tried to find his service number or his complete name but got no joy! Are you sure this is the correct name of W/C Gleed´s wingman on that day?
Yours
Adriano

[Chris Goss]

I believe it was a Kittyhawk