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The Personal Connection


Fearsome-13

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Hi guys,

 

I can safely say that of all the pc games, flight sims, and now DCS modules that I've ever had or played... the Spitfire is by far the closest to home for me.

 

For many, many years, the Spit has been my most favored of WW2 era aircraft... and the reason is this: my grandfather flew them.

 

He always spoke so fondly of his experiences flying Spitfires, first in the North African desert, with 9 Squadron, South African Air Force, where he flew one of the rarest mod Spits. The IX SHF... 4 specially modified IXs were matched in pairs to deal with high altitude photo recon German aircraft. He had always spoken of flying a silver IX, that had been specially modified.

 

When going through his old logbook, and read up on the SHFs.. that I realized I had found a photograph to add to the perhaps handful that exist...

 

Spitfire MA504

003_zpsfgrwzlpg.jpg

 

 

I have a scan of the photo here.

 

After flying with 9 Squadron SAAF, he was seconded to 145 Squadron RAF. Flying Spitfire VIIIs in Italy, with Neville Duke.

 

Here he always spoke of a beautiful Spitfire with extended wingtips, which he lovingly commented on in his logbook. I have subsequently been able to track down a possible production code for the aircraft.. and I believe it to have been the very first production VIII Spitfire! ZX-V

 

I have 2 more scans of some of his Spitfire days...

 

004_zpsldanbpvu.jpg

 

Here is one of the old man, sitting in his Spit, preparing for a sortie

 

And here he is on take off

 

002_zpsfg3toiqf.jpg

 

Sadly the old man passed away a few years ago, and I never got the chance to record his stories, and so they exist only as I remember him telling me, and in his logbook as proof.

 

This module has allowed me to imagine what it was like for him, flying a Spitfire for the first time...

 

For that I am incredibly grateful.

 

Big thanks to the ED team, and I look forward to flying her for many, many hours!

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FC3, UH-1, P-51D, Mi-8, A-10C, F-86F, FW 190D9, KA-50, Gazelle, Mig 21, M-2000C, F-5E, Spitfire IX, A/V-8B, F/A-18C, F-14, FW 190A8, F-16C, P-47D

 

 

NTTR, Normandy, Persian Gulf

 

 

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Good story ... thanks for sharing it along with the photos.

:)

 

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  • ED Team

Great post, thanks for sharing.

 

My father in-law was RAF now sadly passed away, we often dig back into his log books and are in awe of what he had done during his flights, it is nice to be able to do that.

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Lekker post! Thanks for sharing and greetings to SA.

A warrior's mission is to foster the success of others.

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