Spitfire XII, MB800, EB-B

At the recent 95th celebrations of 41 Squadron, held at RAF Coningsby, some recovered remains of a WWII Spitfire were handed over to the Officer Commanding Wing Cmdr Rich Davies. The Spitfire parts were from Spitfire XII, MB800, EB-B, which was being flown by Australian Flt. Sgt. Stanley May when he was shot down by an Fw 190, NE of Ieper, Belgium, on 19 September 1943.

This Spitfire was powered by a Griffon III engine and was assembled at High Post, Wiltshire. It first flew with 39 Maintenance Unit and was transferred to 41 Squadron on 11th May 1943.

Steve Brew, an Australian, who has become the acknowledged historian of 41 Squadron presented the pieces of the Spitfire during the evening celebrations. Steve Brew said “I was aware of the excavation a few years ago but was unable to attend. As I was passing through Ieper recently I arranged to meet Dirk Decuypere who excavated it as he had agreed in advance to allow me to take a piece for the Squadron and a piece for May’s son. In the end, he turned up with a few boxes of parts and we were able to pick and choose and take a number of parts, which were presented to 41 Squadron”. Several of the pieces carried serial numbers and considering how long they had been underground they were in excellent condition.

Steve Brew has been working on the history of 41 Squadron and recently updated the Wikipedia site with more information. Steve’s own website has a mine of information about the Squadron containing biographical details of all the pilots, the Squadron’s 325 World War II pilots, plus data on aircraft and operational bases, aircraft and operation bases. There is also a good photo gallery. Steve is currently working on a printed version of the history of 41 Squadron and this publication is anxiously awaited by many who have connections with 41. For more information go to http://brew.clients.ch/RAF41Sqdn.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._41_Squadron_RAF. Pictures are available. Please ask if you would like to see them. John Shipman (E mail : j.m.shipmanATntlworld.com – replace “AT” with “@”).