Strana 47
EP110, F/Lt Otmar Kučera, No. 313 Squadron, RAF Hawkinge, Kent, the United Kingdom,
August-September 1943
BL547, F/O Rick R. Richards, No. 402 Squadron, RAF Horne, the United Kingdom, June 1944
The Spitfire LF Mk.Vb EP110 flown by B Flight
Commander of No. 313 Squadron RAF, Otmar
Kučera, DFC, sported the code RY
-
R and is
pictured here as it looked during Operation
Starkey on September 9, 1943. During this
operation, black and white invasion stripes were
used for the first time to distinguish own and
foreign aircraft. They were painted on aircraft
that were to take part in low-altitude operations
that day. But these stripes looked different from
the well-known “invasion” ones of the later
Normandy landings. No. 313 Squadron moved
to Hawkinge Airfield, which was under the
command of No. 11 Group, Fighter Air Command,
in mid-August 1943 after a recuperation stay
and patrolling in the north over the Orkneys. The
squadron thus became involved in operational
flights of the deceptive Operation Starkey as part
of the Hawkinge Wing. During these operations,
the unit scored one air combat victory thanks to
its commander S/Ldr. Jaroslav Himr.
On D
-
Day, No. 402 Squadron had a mixture of
older Mk.Vb and Mk.Vc Spitfires in its armament
and was led by the famous ace S/Ldr G. W.
Northcott. The squadron was part of No. 142
Wing, which, under the command of another
well-known Canadian ace, W/Cdr John Milne
Checketts, operated as part of the air defense
of Great Britain, albeit under 2 TAF operational
control in the role of fighter-bombers. No. 402
Squadron was re-equipped with Spitfires Mk.IX
in July, but their time with the unit was brief.
Early August 1944 saw a move to Hawkinge,
where the Squadron was rearmed with the new
Spitfires Mk.XIV with which they immediately
engaged in combat against V-1 flying bombs.
In late September 1944 the squadron was
transferred to 2 TAF in Belgium and joined
No. 125 Wing. In December it then joined
No. 126 Wing RCAF, where it flew alongside Mk.IX
Spitfires. The end of the war found the unit
on German soil at Wunstorf with a total score
of 49.5 enemy shot down. One of the Spitfires
Mk.Vb operating with No. 402 Squadron during
D
-
Day was serial number BL547 which sported
the fuselage codes AE
-
R. It was most often
flown by F/O Rick Richards who had a drawing
of Black Rufe, a character from the comic strip
Li’l Abner, painted on the nose of his Spitfire.
Under the cockpit, it bore the standard markings
of most No. 402 Squadron Spitfires, a red
Canadian leaf in a white crest with the City of
Winnipeg in white lettering.
KITS 05/2026
INFO Eduard
47
May 2026