A flying can-opener – One evening, among many, a number of ME 109’s beat up Westhampnett. They made a mess of a few kites, including mine (DW-V), and they, also, messed up some aircraft of No. 616 Squadron on the opposite side of the field. I wondered what the odds were of the phenomenal happening to my Spitfire. It was opened down the razor-like back as a can-opener would open a tin-can; all the way from the empennage to the spinner, but my Spit was not set on fire.
It was miserable, at times, having to dive into a short slit trench when the enemy worked the field over and more so when the damn trench had a deal of water in it.
The Rolls Royce Merlin – The old Rolls Royce Merlin in-line engine was a most reliable engine and one could stake one’s life on it. Engine-handling procedures designated that one was not to apply the emergency overboost for more than three minutes, but I had it wide open for more than fifteen minutes on a number of occasions. After one of these occasions, the Sergeant walked into the Flight hut and showed me his two, cupped hands that were piled high with metal which he had removed from the filters. He was quite annoyed that he would have to send the engine back to the factory for rebuilding, and I was also annoyed as I grumbled, “Serge, I’m standing here.” He was, I must admit, a very understanding guy, and his eyes smiled as he walked out. I felt sorry for him because it was, indeed, difficult for him to continuously try to maintain a complement of aircraft at the time.
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