Spare

The attack was successful, two bridges were destroyed and several huts were burned in the area.  Only one aircraft failed to return, Flight Lieutenant Cullen’s Spitfire LF.VIII of 452 Squadron was missing. He was last seen recovering from a dive-bombing run having successfully released his payload.

45 Seconds

On the 25th of September the Battle of Britain was entering its third month. While there may never be complete agreement on the specific the win/loss ratios, it is nevertheless true to say that through August and early September the RAF had barely managed to replace its losses in aircrew and aircraft. Aircraft production had been heavily targeted by the Luftwaffe and the RAF’s operational aircrew losses were only just matched by the training unit output; the exhaustion of both its physical and material reserves was a real and present danger.

Flt. Sgt. George “Grumpy” Unwin’s Supermarine Spitfire Mk IA

While Tamiya’s new tool Spitfire gets all the attention, here’s one of the old tool version…

“In late May, 1940 the BEF was forced from continental Europe by the Germans at Dunkirk. The now famous retreat was covered in part by Spitfires of No.19 Squadron. Flight Sergeant George Unwin was already an experienced Spitfire pilot by this stage of the war…”