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Strana 53

EN315, S/Ldr. Stanislav Skalski, Polish Combat Team, No. 145 Squadron, Northern Africa, Spring 1943
EN133, No. 611 Squadron, RAF Biggin Hill, The United Kingdom, Early 1943
This aircraft was one of ten Spitfires flown
by Polish pilots in the north African sky. The
independent unit was called the Polish Combat
Team. Stanislav Skalski, the famous fighter
pilot with eighteen kills to his credit, acted
as Squadron Leader for the Team. He was
one of the pilots who flew this aircraft. Six
swastikas on the fuselage probably symbolize
the victories achieved by various pilots while
flying the Spitfire. The desert camouflage
scheme consisted of Mid Stone and Dark Earth
uppersides and Azure Blue undersides.
This Spitfire flew for the first time on November
16, 1942, and its first and only known affiliation
is with No. 611 Squadron, RAF. Among squadron
members who were entrusted with this aircraft
was Franz Ferdinand Colloredo Mansfeld,
a member of Austrian nobility and a US citizen
(three confirmed kills and four probable).
The EN133 was destroyed on March 14, 1943,
during an attack on Abbeville airfield in France
(operation Ramrod 188), when Spitfires clashed
with Fw 190s from JG26. W/Cdr. James H. Slater,
the CO of No. 453 Sqdn RAAF, was killed in this
combat when in cockpit of EN133.
KITS 03/2026
INFO Eduard
53
March 2026
Info EDUARD