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TB752, S/Ldr Henry Zary, CO of No. 403 Squadron, B.114 Diepholz, Germany,
April–May 1945
SM403, F/O Gordon M. Hill, No. 416 Squadron, B.56 Evere, Belgium, December 1944
The Spitfire serial number TB752 was built by
Vickers-Armstrong at the Castle Bromwich
factory with elliptical wingtips and was handed
over to No. 33 Maintenance Unit RAF Lyneham
on February 21, 1945. The first combat unit with
which TB752 served was No. 66 Squadron in March
1945, where it received the fuselage code LZ
-
F.
On March 25, 1945, it suffered damage to its wing
and propeller during an emergency landing, which
was repaired by No. 409 RSU. On April 19, 1945, the
repaired TB752, this time with clipped wingtips,
was transferred to a new operational combat unit,
No. 403 Squadron. There it received the codes
KH
-
Z and became the favorite aircraft of No. 403
Squadron commander S/Ldr Henry Zary. On his
very first flight with TB752, Zary shot down one
Bf 109 on April 21, scoring five confirmed victories
and becoming an ace. On April 25, he destroyed
one Me 262 and one Ju 88 during strafing attack
on German airfield with TB752. Other No. 403
Squadron pilots achieved notable successes in
the cockpit of TB752 in the last days of the war.
For example, on April 25, P/O D. Leslie shot down
one Fw 189, on May 1 F/O R. Young shot down an
Fw 190 and on May 3 F/O Fred Town sent down
a He 111. Shortly after the war, the TB752 propeller
cone received a red, white and blue paint job and
the code letters KH
-
Z were given black outlines.
In 1955 TB752 was moved to Manston where it
stood for many years on a pedestal at the airport
entrance gate. In 1978 the Medway branch of the
Royal Aeronautical Society offered to refurbish it
and on July 7 was TB752 transferred to Rochester
Airport. On September 15, 1979, following
a successful refurbishment, TB752 returned
to Manston in the livery of No. 403 Squadron.
In mid-December 1944, No. 416 Squadron was
rearmed from Mk.IX Spitfires to the all-new
Mk.XVIE ones. One of the first of the newly
delivered Spitfires was an aircraft with serial
number SM403 with a shortened wingspan,
which subsequently received the code letters
DN
-
S. When SM403 was taken by F/O Gordon
Hill for a flight test to see how the new Spitfire
performed, the name “Sweet Sixteen” stuck with
him upon landing and he had it painted on the
tank cover of his new Spitfire by ground staff.
According to his personal recollections, the
“Sweet Sixteen” was his favorite Spitfire. Hill’s
first combat mission with the new SM403 was
a patrol of twelve “Sixteen’s” on Christmas
Day 1944 over the Malmedy-Houffalize area.
By December 31, 1944, No. 416 Squadron had
flown 73 combat sorties on patrols and sweeps
and claimed a kill on an Fw 190. By the end of
World War II, No. 416 Squadron had then flown
2,040 combat sorties with its “sixteens” as part
of No. 127 Wing, adding to its wartime total of
75 confirmed kills the amount of enemy ground
equipment destroyed.
KITS 07/2024
INFO Eduard
59
July 2024