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Roderick Smith
| Wing Commander Roderick Smith DFC* (deceased) Flight Commander 412 Sqn RCAF, Flight Commander 126 Sqn RAF, Squadron Commander 401 Sqn RCAF. One of Canada's most skillful Spitfire pilots, his victory total included a shared victory over an Me262 jet fighter.Born in 1922, he joined the RCAF and was sent to Scotland for training on the Spitfire Mk.I. He was posted to Malta with No.126 Sqn, where his older brother was already serving. His brother was killed in action during theit time in Malta, and Roderick himself was forced to bail out of his burning aircraft. On D-Day, he flew over the Normandy beaches as Flight Commander of No.412 Sqn RCAF. He returned to Canada in December 1944 and retired the next year. Sadly, Roderick Smith died on 16th April 2002. |
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Greycap Leader by Robert Taylor. Leading 433 (Canadian) Squadron, top Allied Fighter Ace Johnnie Johnson -Greycap Leader - has already bagged an Fw190, and is hauling his MKIX Spitfire around looking for a second in heavy dog-fighting over the Rhine, September 1944. In the distance more enemy fighters appear, they too will receive the attention of the Canadians. |
Midwinter Dawn by Robert Taylor. The engineers at Rolls-Royce had worked their magic. They had somehow managed to squeeze every available ounce of power out of the current Merlin engine and by D-Day on 6 June 1944 the sleek Mk.IX Spitfires of Fighter Command reigned supreme in the skies over Normandy. The magnificent Mk.IXs were, by far, the most numerous variant of Spitfires that fought from D-Day to the threshold of the Reich. In the great drive from Normandy across northern France, Belgium and into Holland the Spitfire pilots of Fighter Command threw down the gauntlet to any Luftwaffe pilots brave enough, or foolhardy enough, to tangle with them. Perhaps the greatest pilot to ever fly the Spitfire was the RAF&39;s top fighter Ace Johnnie Johnson. His resolute determination and steadfast leadership came into its own during D-Day and the subsequent advance through Normandy, and he would finish the war as the highest scoring Allied Ace in Europe. The scene captures the moment when, as Wing Leader of 127 Canadian Wing, Johnnie is seen leading Mk.IX Spitfires from 421 Red Indian Squadron RCAF out on patrol from their airfield at Evere near Brussels on a cold December morning in 1944. It is close to the fighting and the German front line so, as the Canadians climb steadily out over the snow clad landscape in the golden light of dawn, they are already alert and on the lookout for the first signs of trouble. |
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