BigJimMcBob

Flak Bait flew its 200th on April 17 1945. F-for-Freddie (Mosquito) flew its 213th seven days earlier. As for 100, DK331 (Mosquito) flew its 100th on April 18 1944.

A slightly longer look at both Shores & Thomas and the Fighter Command War Diaries shows that, from the invasion to the end of July, gyro-equipped Spit IXs accounted for at a minimum the majority of all RAF Spitfire claims, regardless of marque, and for nearly 40% of all the RAF single-engine fighter claims as a whole (37.7%, if you must know). I say at a minimum, since all of this assumes that the two Wings at Ford didn't receive the gyro before the invasion. They were equipped with it by September at the very latest, based on gun-camera film held by the Imperial War Museum (the clip title specifies the gyro sight being used). So anyway, if you're going to model a 1944 Spit IX to fight the Luftwaffe, it should have a gyro sight if it's going to conform to reality.

"in the end we have learned that this "high proportion of 2 TAF Spitfires" were actually about 10 (ten) Squadrons, give or take a couple, most whom had very little or no actual contact at all with enemy fighters, and whom would be rightfully described by some as insignificant, penny packet numbers." Quick check of Shores & Thomas shows that in the first 10 days of the invasion, Spitfire IXs of 2 TAF made 94 air-to-air claims (destroyed, probable, damaged) against Luftwaffe aircraft. Of these, 47 were made by Spitfires of 126, 127 and 132 Wings (equipped with the gyro gunsight as above), with a further 26 being accounted for by aircraft of 135 Wing (equipping with the gyro sight as above). In short, most of the damage being done to the Luftwaffe in mid-'44 by Spitfire IXs of 2 TAF was being done by gyro-gunsight equipped aircraft.