KITS 01/2022
P9372, P/O Antony C. Bartley, No. 92 Squadron, RAF Croydon, Great Britain, March – April 1940
Spitfire P9372 served with No. 92 Sqn from March 1940, when the unit changed their Blenheims Mk.If to Spitfires. Along with it, it
took part in the evacuation from Dunkirk, when it was flown by Antony Charles Bartley, among other airmen. A native of Dhaka in
what was then British India, he joined the RAF in 1939 and after training he was posted to No. 92 Sqn, with which he took part not
only in covering the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force but also in the Battle of Britain. In March 1941 he was transferred
to No. 74 Sqn for two months, where he had been training new pilots. He later flew as a test pilot with Supermarine and from
August 1942 commanded No. 111 Sqn during its deployment to North Africa. He subsequently served as a staff member of No. 83
Group and from October 1944 he took post at RAF Transport Command in the Far East. At the end of the war his score was 12 + 1
destroyed, 5 probables and 8 damaged aircraft. After the war he held various positions in the British film and television industry
and died on April 18, 2001. Spitfire P9372 served with No. 92 Sqn until September 9, 1940 when it was shot down near East Guildford.
P/O W. C. Watlings, althoug injured, managed to rescue himself on parachute. The wreckage of the Spitfire was excavated from the
crash site and displayed at Tonbridge Battle of Britain Museum. The parts were then acquired by noted Spitfirologist Peter R. Monk
of Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar Ltd. There they have been on display on the hangar wall since 2016. On August 5, 2019, the project
to restore P9372 to airworthy condition commenced and it was subsequently officially registered under the G-CLIH matriculation.
L1004, F/Lt Alexander V. R. Johnstone, No. 602 Squadron, RAF Drem, East Lothian, Great Britain, May 1940
Alexander Vallance Riddell Johnstone, better known as "Sandy" Johnstone, achieved his first combat successes in the cockpit of
L1004 in late June and early July, when he shot down a He 111, a Ju 88 in cooperation and also damaged a Do 17. On July 12, he took
command of No. 602 Sqn and increased his score by a further seven kills. In September 1941 he took command of No. 263 Wing in
Beirut and in April 1942 became sector commander in Haifa, Palestine. As early as September 1942, however, he moved to Malta,
where he became commander of Luqa airfield. In January 1943 he returned to operational flying as commander of Krendi Wing
with Spitfire Mk.Vc. He commanded the Wing until the end of March 1943, then returned to Britain where he held various command
posts until the end of the war. He ended the war with nine kills (7 + 2), 1 probable and 7 enemy aircraft damaged. Tests of the 1,645
hp Merlin 32 engine were carried out on Spitfire Mk.I L1004 in late 1942. The tests were successful and the decision was made to
install this powerplant in the existing Seafire Mk.IIC aircraft. The colour profile shows the appearance of the aircraft in the second
half of May 1940, when the undersurfaces of the RAF fighters were painted black and white. A tricolour was added to the tail and
cockades of type A1 were painted on the fuselage sides. From June 6, 1940 it was ordered that the undersurfaces of RAF fighters
would be camouflaged with Sky paint.
INFO Eduard - January 2022
eduard
73