Strana 77
BL299, S/Ldr Michael G. F. Pedley, CO of No. 131 Squadron, RAF Lianbedr,
United Kingdom, January - April 1942
BL594, F/O Eugeniusz Horbaczewski, No. 303. Squadron, RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey,
United Kingdom, June 1942
Michael Pedley joined the RAF in 1935 and served
with No. 2 (Army) Squadron until 1939, when he
became an instructor. In November 1941, he took
command of No. 131 Squadron. During Operation
Jubilee (the Dieppe landing), he scored two
aerial victories. In September, he was awarded
the DFC and promoted to commander of
No. 323 Wing, with which he took part in
Operation Torch in Northwest Africa. During the
war years, he scored five aerial victories and in
1956 was appointed an Officer of the Order of the
British Empire (OBE) for his work in directing
and commanding offensive air operations
against terrorists in Malaya. He retired in 1957.
An interesting feature of the Spitfire BM420,
which S/Ldr Pedley flew with No. 131 Squadron,
is the non-standard size of the lower wing
insignia and the fresh application of the type
C insignia, under which the original type A
insignia shines through. The inscription Spirit of
Kent refers to the county of Kent in Great Britain,
which paid for the entire Spitfire squadron.
Lord Cornwallis was largely responsible for the
collection of funds from the residents of Kent.
He appealed to the people of Kent, and after
a meeting of the War Emergency Committee,
the Kent County Spitfire Fund was established.
The residents of Kent and the surrounding towns
soon began competing among themselves to
see who could raise the most money, and by
November 1941, they had managed to raise more
than £100,000, which was enough for an entire
squadron of Spitfires.
BL594 was delivered to No. 242 Squadron in
April 1942, but was damaged in an accident in
May, subsequently repaired and delivered to
No. 303 (Polish) Squadron, which was operating
from Kirton-in-Lindsey airfield at the time.
Here it was given the code RF
-
G and became
the personal aircraft of F/O Horbaczewski,
who had his current score of four confirmed
kills and a personal emblem of a somewhat
wild-looking Pegasus painted on the fuselage.
In early February 1943, No. 303 Squadron moved
to Heston, but BL594 remained at Kirton-in-
Lindsey airfield and became the personal
aircraft of the commander of No. 2 Polish Wing,
W/Cdr Alexander Gabszewicz, with the new
code G
-
WX.
KITS 12/2025
INFO Eduard
77
December 2025