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Operation: Ranger
Date: 23rd August 1944 (Wednesday)
Unit: No. 41 Squadron (motto: 'Seek and Destroy')
Type: Spitfire XII
Serial: EN226
Code: EB-X
Base: RAF Lympne, Kent
Location: Hesdin, France
Pilot: Fl/Lt. Thomas Adams Hume Slack 112428 RAFVR PoW No: 7747 Camp Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria
REASON FOR LOSS:
A prize of £2.10 shillings was arranged for the first pilot to destroy the squadron's 80th flying bomb and during this morning Fl/Lt. Terence Spencer (1) was the beneficiary of the prize when he destroyed two at 08:20 hrs over Ashford.
Fl/Lt. Slack had been shot down on 3 occasions;
18th July 1943 whilst flying Spitfire XII EN233 EB-G during a 'Ramrod' patrol. Forced landing at Foucaucourt-Hors-Nesle in northern France. Evaded capture and returned to his unit on the 24th August 1943.
18th June 1944 whilst flying Spitfire XII MB876 EB-V during a reconnaissance patrol hit by flak and baled out over the English Channel Fl/Sgt. Jimmy Ware RAAF flying Spitfire XII EN231 ran out of fuel whilst covering Fl/Lt. Slack and also baled out. Both were rescued by RAF Air Sea Rescue Walrus.
Finally, during a 'Ranger' patrol on the 23rd August 1944 taking off at 16:00 hrs with 10 others, flying EN226 he was unable to switch over to the main fuel tank and forced landed in open fields near Hesdin which was behind enemy lines. Captured and remained a PoW until the end of the war. The remainder of the squadron landed safely back at base at 17:00 hrs.
Burial details:
None - he survived.
Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to the National Archives Kew. AIR-27-426-15/16.
'Happy Is The Day' - This is the personal story of a Spitfire pilot during the last world war. It starts when he joined the RAF for Flying Training in Singapore in 1940 and covers further training in Iraq when he became involved in the Siege of Hibbaniya where he was shot down in the middle of the desert. After more training in Rhodesia he returned by sea to England to join 41 Squadron at Tangmere in Sussex which was equipped with Spitfires.
41 Squadron was chiefly involved with sweeps over France and the Low countries of with shipping reconnaissances along the French coast. It also took part in the Dieppe and Normandy landings. While serving with this Squadron Tom Slack was shot down over France and escaped back to England. Then he was shot down again over the sea near Ushant and rescued.
Finally he was forced to crash-land behind the enemy lines in Northern France to become a Prisoner of War in Germany before being released and re-imprisoned by the Russians outside Berlin at the end of the war.
Publisher : United Writers Publications Ltd; 2nd edition (14 May 1993)
137 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1852000486
(1) Fl/Lt. Terence Spencer 47269 RAFVR, later Sq/Ldr. DFC. Born on the 08th May 1918 in Bedford. Educated at Cheltenham College, Spencer took an engineering degree at the University of Birmingham. He is credited with 8 V1's destroyed and a Fw190a on the 03rd September 1944, a Ju88 on the 19th April 1945.
The citation for his DFC on 22 June 1945 reads:
'This officer's keenness for air operations has won great praise. He has completed a very large number of sorties and has invariably attacked his targets with great courage and determination thereby achieving much success. On one occasion in February 1945, Squadron Leader Spencer was forced to come down in enemy territory. He was captured, but subsequently rejoined his unit. He has been responsible for the destruction of one enemy, aircraft and a good number of mechanical vehicles'.
After the war based outside Johannesburg, Spencer and his wife, the English actress Lesley Brook, started a successful aerial photography business based around a Piper Cub. In 1952, he started shooting for Life magazine, covering war stories in African continent, including Sharpville and the Congo Crisis, many of the independence struggles in emerging African nations, the horrors of apartheid, Nelson Mandela on the run and Jomo Kenyatta in detention.
Passed away on the on 08th. February 2009 in hospital in Odiham, Hampshire of cancer, aged 90, less than 24 hours after his wife of 62 years died.
Other pages that may interest you:
Pages detailing Prisoners of war
Other sources as quoted below:
KTY 09-08-2024
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember
them. - Laurence
Binyon
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