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FB260, G/Cpt Brian A. Eaton, CO of No. 329 Wing, Italy, Autumn 1944
HB900, F/Lt Reginald A. Wild DFC, No. 112 Squadron, Creti LG, Italy, July 1944
Australian Brian Alexander Eaton enlisted in
the RAAF in January 1936. He served as a flying
instructor until the outbreak of war and in
Australia until October 1942 when he sailed to
North Africa and joined the Australians operating
on that front. In early 1943 he was assigned to
No. 3 Sqn in North Africa, where he flew P-40
Kittyhawks. Despite being shot down three times
in ten days shortly after his arrival, Eaton quickly
rose to become the unit’s commanding officer
and by the end of the year was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). In August 1944
he returned to operational flying and assumed
command of No. 239 Wing, replacing W/Cdr
Larry Wilmot. He took over Wilmot’s Mustang
serial number FB260, to which he subsequently
applied his BE initials and Wing emblem. Eaton
led No. 239 Wing until the end of the war. He was
awarded the DFC and DSO plus Bar. After the war
he stayed in the RAAF and commanded No. 81
Squadron in Japan and No. 78 Squadron in Malta.
From 1957 to 1959 he commanded the RAAF base
at Williamtown, after which he held a number of
senior command positions. He retired from the
RAAF in December 1973 and became Managing
Director of Rolls-Royce in Canberra. He died in
1992 at the age of 75.
Reginald Albert Wild was born on June 16,
1922, in Laura, South Australia and worked as
a plumber before joining the RAAF. On February
1, 1941, he was posted to the Middle East where
he completed two tours with No. 112 Squadron.
F/Lt Reginald Wild joined his second tour of
duty on June 1, 1944, with No. 112 Sqn as Flight
A leader. The Squadron was freshly armed
with new Mk.III Mustangs. Wild chose the serial
number HB900 (s/n 42-103869) as his personal
Mustang and flew it regularly until the end of his
tour on October 14, 1944. In addition to the shark’s
mouth, the traditional identifying feature of all
No. 112 Squadron aircraft, his Mustang featured
a caricature of the character Wimpy painted on
the left side of the nose, as well as the unusual
“?” code marking previously worn by Kittyhawks
of S/Ldr Billy Drake. Following S/Ldr Drake’s
departure from No. 112 Squadron, F/Lt Wild also
took a liking to the question mark code and
used it on his Kittyhawks. During World War II
he achieved three confirmed kills, one probable
kill and damaged one aircraft, for which he
was awarded the DFC on July 23, 1943. All of his
achievements were in Kittyhawks. After the war
he joined the Royal Australian Navy and flew with
No. 808 Squadron from HMAS Sydney in 1951-
52 aboard Hawker Sea Fury aircraft during the
Korean War. He commanded this unit from mid-
1953 until its disbandment in 1954.
KITS 11/2024
INFO Eduard50
November 2024