Strana 81
P8699, F/Lt John Bisdee, No. 609 Squadron, RAF Biggin Hill, United Kingdom, July 1941
W3257, F/Lt Eric S. Lock, No. 611 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, United Kingdom, July-August 1941
John Bisdee was born in Weston-super-Mare,
Somerset. After the outbreak of World War II,
he was called up for service in the RAF. After
completing his training, he was assigned to
No. 609 Squadron, with which he participated
in the Battle of Britain and achieved several
aerial victories. In 1942, he was transferred
to Malta as commander of No. 601 Squadron.
After moving to North Africa, he took part in
the Western Desert campaign. In 1943, he was
appointed military governor of Lampedusa.
He spent most of the rest of his wartime service
in training and as commander of No. 323 Wing in
Italy. In June 1945, he received the Order of the
British Empire. During the war, he achieved ten
aerial victories, two of which were shared, plus
four probable victories, and he also damaged
four enemy aircraft. Like all of Bisdee’s previous
Spitfires, P8699 had his personal emblem,
a lily flower with a crown, under the windshield.
In August 1941, P8699 was taken over by
S/Ldr George “Kemp” Gilroy, who scored four of
his 24 kills with it.
The most successful pilot of the Battle of Britain,
Eric Stanley Lock, sortied for the first time with
his Spitfire W3257 on July 14, 1941. He baptized
his new aircraft by fire by shooting down
a Bf 109F, which was also his very last kill.
Barely three weeks later, on August 3, returning
from a Rhubarb mission, he attacked a German
column near Pas de Calais and has been missing
ever since. It’s supposed he was shot down by
AA fire and crashed into the sea. Neither his
Spitfire Mk.V W3257 nor Lock himself have ever
been found. At the time of his disappearance
his score stood at 26 kills achieved during
25 weeks of the operational deployment in
course of one year out of which he spent six
months in the hospitals. Spitfire Mk.Vb W3257
was camouflaged in the standard Dark Green/
Dark Earth/Sky. Code letters E
-
FY were painted
in Sky which was standard code letters color of
the Hornchurch Wing Spitfires. The serial was
overpainted in the camouflage color.
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INFO Eduard
81
December 2025