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F/Lt Don Andrews, flight commander of No. 453 Squadron RAAF, in the cockpit of his Spitfire Mk. IXC, serial number unknown. Establishing the date of the photo without the serial number isn't easy, but it has been established that the previous FU-?, Mk. VC EE727 crashed on approach to the airfield on 13 September that year killing the pilot. On the other hand, a month later (15 October) the squadron moved to Skeabrae in the Orkneys. This would time the photo to September-October 1943 in in Perranporth, Cornwall. At the time the unit used a mixture of Spitfires Mk. IX and Mk. V for convoy patrol and anti-shipping operations.

Labels: people, Spitfire Mk. IX