185 Squadron Fuselage Codes 1943-45

[Tim O.]

Hi all

I have a log book and a series of photos to a pilot who flew with No. 185 Squadron from Malta and Italy in 1943-45. The photos all show Spitfires bearing the code 'LK', which references suggest would be 87 Squadron. Can anyone shed light on this please?

[Stig Jarlevik]

Originally Posted by Tim O.

Hi all

I have a log book and a series of photos to a pilot who flew with No. 185 Squadron from Malta and Italy in 1943-45. The photos all show Spitfires bearing the code 'LK', which references suggest would be 87 Squadron. Can anyone shed light on this please?

Quite odd Tim
All sources are pretty adamant that 87 Sq used the LK code and 185 Sq GL.
Plenty of s/n tie ups for both units.
Are any s/n readable for the aircraft you have with LK codes?

The two units often shared common bases during August 1944 - March/April 1945 such as:
Perugia between 3-23 Aug 1944
Loreto between 25 Aug - 3 Sep 1944
Fano between 4 - 16 Sep 1944 and again 2 - 7 Oct 1944
and so on.

Perhaps he only took photos of 87 Sq aircraft?
No idea if the two units shared aircraft (in a sort of pool)

Cheers
Stig

[Tim O.]

Hi Stig

The only readable code is MK784 on LK-P at the front of a line of Spitfires in 1944 or 45 I think. The reverse is captioned '185 Squadron'. A search on this aircraft did not add any light.

The photos show aircraft in 'Malta blue' and Italian campaign camouflage, all marked LK but sadly the picture quality does not allow the aircraft serials to be read apart from the one above.

So far rather a mystery.

[Stig Jarlevik]

Well Tim

MK784 complicates things.
It is not listed as having ever been used by either 87 or 185 Sq.
I suspect you have the wrong serial number.

Cheers
Stig

[Tim O.]

Hi Stig

For interest I checked about 6 serials from the log book. Only one of these is shown in the online records as having specifically been with 185 Squadron, so I am not sure how complete the records are. Unfortunately fuselage codes are not recorded in the log book or ORB.

I will check more serials in the next few days.

[Tim O.]

Hi Stig

Maybe an answer....

185 Sqn was disbanded on 14 August 1945 and my man was posted to 87 Sqn, so maybe the Spitfire photos are post conflict!

[Stig Jarlevik]

Originally Posted by Tim O.

Hi Stig

Maybe an answer....

185 Sqn was disbanded on 14 August 1945 and my man was posted to 87 Sqn, so maybe the Spitfire photos are post conflict!

Well there you go Tim
Undated photos are extremely tricky sometimes...
Cheers
Stig

[Alex Smart]

Oddly , http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/home.html has MK784 as serving with 222 Sqdn and 349 Sqdn.

"MK784 LFIX CBAF M66 39MU 8-3-44 222Sq 'ZD-L' 16-4-44 349Sq 7-9-44 83GSU FACB 18-10-44 3APU 19-4-45 MedAAF 14-5-45 7SAAF 137MU storage 29-4-48 SOC 24-6-48"

349 Sqdn code was "GE"

"85 Years of SAAF" has 7 Sqdn, SOC 10.06.48.

7 SAAF code was "ND".

Nothing of 87 or 185 ?

[Tim O.]

Originally Posted by Alex Smart

Oddly , http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/home.html has MK784 as serving with 222 Sqdn and 349 Sqdn.

"MK784 LFIX CBAF M66 39MU 8-3-44 222Sq 'ZD-L' 16-4-44 349Sq 7-9-44 83GSU FACB 18-10-44 3APU 19-4-45 MedAAF 14-5-45 7SAAF 137MU storage 29-4-48 SOC 24-6-48"

"85 Years of SAAF" has 7 Sqdn, SOC 10.06.48.

Nothing of 87 or 185 ?

When 185 Sqn was disbanded, its aircraft went to the SAAF under whose control they had been in Italy as part of No. 8 Wing. Maybe the record misses a step?

[Alex Smart]

Just a thought, but could the a/c have been used by a Sqdn Officer who's initials were "L,K,P." ?