KITS 06/2022

AB509, W/Cdr John M. Checketts, No. 142 Wing, RAF Horne,

Surrey, Great Britain, June 1944

John Milne "Johnny" Checketts was one of the most

successful New Zealand pilots in WWII. He was born

in Invercargill on February 20, 1912. In October 1940,

twenty eight years old, he started the pilot training

with RNZAF. In November 1941 he was attached to No.

485 (RNZAF) Squadron. In January 1943 he was sent

to No. 611 Squadron at Biggin Hill airport where, as an

"A" flight leader, he scored his first two kills. In July

Johnny assumed the command of the whole No. 485

(RNZAF) Squadron. During May-September 1943, in

the cockpit of Spitfire Mk.IXc EN572, Checketts scored 12 victories in total. On September 6, 1943 he was

shot down by a Fw 190, burnt and wounded he bai-

led out. The French Resistance fighters hid him and

treated his wounds. Checketts was evacuated by the

resistance with a group of 12 pilots and on October 21,

1943 crossed La Manche on board the fishing boat. In

May 1944 he was promoted to Wing Commander and

assumed the command of No. 142 Wing equipped with

Spitfires Mk.Vc and located at Horne airport.

With this unit he took part in the Allied landing in

Normandy. Soon after the D-day Germans started

to launch V-1 flying bombs and in the middle of the

month Checketts destroyed two of them. His last mission in September 1944 brought him over Arnhem

where he scored his last kill. Shortly after he met the

rocket Me 163 in combat. Checketts total score during

his combat career was 14 kills, 3 probables, 8 damaged and two V-1 flying bombs destroyed. The Spitfire Johnny Checketts flew with No. 142 Wing during

Allied landing in Normandy was LF Mk.Vc, s/n AB509.

His aircraft was modified with the later version of

elevators, cannons without the second protrusion

and the upper cannon covers featuring the narrow

bulge. It carried the standard Day Fighters Scheme

camouflage with sloppily applied invasion stripes.

The code letters were overpainted and the fuselage

black invasion stripe sports the hand painted initials

JMC.

AR511, S/Ldr Tomáš Vybíral, No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron,

RAF Churchstanton, Somerset, Great Britain,

November 1942 - June 1943

Spitfire AR511 served with No. 312 Squadron from August 23, 1942 to July 4, 1943 and most of this time it

was flown by the unit commander S/Ldr Tomáš Vybíral as his personal aircraft. At the end of its service

with No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron AR511 flew with

a shortened wingspan and a smaller serial number

painted inside the Sky band. Tomáš Vybíral was one

of the most successful and popular Czechoslovak

pilots of WWII. Within RAF he logged 625.5 operational hours (his combat flying in France included the

number goes up to 684.15 operational hours) and flew

196 sweeps over the enemy held territories in France,

Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. He scored

seven aerial victories, all of them during the Battle

of France in the cockpit of an American Curtiss Hawk

H-75.

AB174, P/O Antoni Glowacki, No. 303 (Polish) Squadron,

RAF Northolt, Great Britain, August 1942

On March 15, 1942 AB174 was assigned to No. 303

(Polish) Squadron as the very first Mk.Vc version of

Spitfire. At the unit level the aircraft received the

code letter "Q" and was named "owca" (sheep in

Polish). Such nicknamed aircraft was flown by well

June 2022

known Polish pilot and fighter ace P/O Antoni Glowacki who decorated it with the symbols of his kills

under the portside of the windshield. On August 19,

during the fighting at Dieppe, at the controls of this

aircraft, Glowacki shot down a He 111 in cooperation

and probably a Fw 190. During his wartime career he

scored 8+1 kills, 3 probables and 5 damaged enemy

airplanes.

INFO Eduard

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