A good mate of mine sent me this photo of his Uncle Butch (in fez) in front of his Spit "Thelma" in Syria in 1943. Barry, my mate, said Butch flew a number of other types including the Beaufighter and Beaufort and also spent a bit of time with 11 Squadron in India/Burma in late 1943 soon after they had re-equipped with Hurri IIcs. An interesting character indeed. Barry has Butch's complete service history so it'll be interesting to find out some more. In the meantime, enjoy this wonderful photo. The Spit appears to be a Mk V with tropical chin radiator. Another relative, Keith Frearson DFC, did 34 trips as a nav in Bomber Command.
The plane looks like an older type Spitfire!one of the earlier types. Those men must be the ground crew and onw pilot?
Not a Spitfire pilot however this is the only RAAF lad that I have on my database as killed in Syria.
