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strikes all over the fuselage and wing roots.
The 109 burst into flames on the starboard side
of the fuselage only, and trailed intense black
smoke. I then broke off my attack.
After the first attack I went around in
a defensive circle at about 8500 feet until
I spotted an FW 190 which I immediately
attacked from 250 yards down to 100 yards and
from 30 degrees to line astern. I saw strikes
over the cockpit and to the rear of the fuselage,
it burst into flames from the engine back and
as I passed very close over the top of it I saw
the pilot slumped over in the cockpit, which
was also in flames.
My third attack followed immediately on
the 2nd. I followed what I believed was an
Me 109 in a slight dive. He then climbed sharply
and his canopy flew off about 3 to 4,000 feet.
I then gave a very short burst from about
300 yards and line astern and his aircraft
whipped downwards in a dive. The pilot
attempted or did bale out. I saw a black object
on the edge of the cockpit but his chute ripped
to shreds. I then took cine shots of his a/c
going to the ground and the bits of parachute
floating around. I saw this aircraft hit and
smash into many flaming pieces on the ground.
I do not remember any strikes on this aircraft.
The Browning button only may have been
pressed.
I spotted an FW 190 being pursued at about
5,000 feet by a Spitfire which was in turn
pursued by an FW 190. I called this Yellow
section pilot to break and attacked the 190 up
his rear. The fight went downwards in a steep
dive. When I was about 250 yards and line
astern of this 190 I opened fire. There were
many strikes on the length of the fuselage and
HISTORY
Spitfire RR201 undergoing maintenance shortly after
being transferred to B Flight in early February 1945 and
recoded from DB
-
G to DB
-
R. The fuselage codes DB
-
R
were previously used on Spitfire MK950, which F/Lt Jack
Boyle regularly flew from January 7 to February 3, 1945,
after assuming command of B Flight No. 411 Squadron.
Meanwhile, Boyle’s RR201 DB
-
G "Sweet Sue V" was flown
with A Flight throughout January by his friend F/Lt Richard
Audet, who achieved seven of his eleven confirmed
victories with it. Following the exchange of Spitfires
between A and B Flights (likely an arrangement between
the two friendly pilots), F/Lt Audet took over MK950, now
recoded as DB
-
G, and regularly flew it until March 3, 1945,
when he was shot down during an attack on an armed
train. F/Lt Boyle returned to his RR201 "Sweet Sue V",
which from then on bore the new fuselage code DB
-
R. After
F/Lt Jack Boyle completed his operational service with
No. 411 Squadron in early April, Canadian pilots achieved
two more confirmed victories with RR201. On April 20, 1945,
F/O Wilson shot down a He 111, and the following day,
F/Lt McClarty shot down a Bf 109. The flying career of RR201
ended on April 30, 1945, when F/Lt McClarty crash-landed
near Scharesbek after flak damage to the engine. (DND)
In the foreground is Spitfire MK686 DB
-
L, with which "Jack" Boyle shot down a German Me 262 piloted by Ober
-
leutnant Hans Georg Lamle of 4./KG(J) 51 on December 25, 1944. In the background is Jack’s RR201 DB
-
R "Sweet
Sue V". (Spitfire: The Canadians VOL.1, courtesy of Andy McNiece)
F/Lt Richard
Joseph "Dick"
Audet with his
Spitfire MK950
DB
-
G in February
1945. (DND PL
41719, Steve Sauvé)
INFO Eduard8
December 2024