Spitfire MJ250 of 601 Squadron

By Squadron Leader Clive Rowley MBE RAF (Retd)

“We were airborne and waiting for a call from ‘Rover’ control (our forward air controller) when he came on the air and asked our section of Spitfire Mk IXs (each of us armed with a 500lb bomb, plus 20mm cannons and 0.5 inch heavy machine guns) to go to a small airfield right on the front line. The controller described the situation to us. Our troops were around the perimeter of the airfield but were pinned down by gunfire being directed from the control tower. He asked us to attack the tower in order to eliminate this observation post.”

“We carried out our normal bombing run starting at 10,000 feet, peeling off into a dive of about 80 degrees, which allowed us to keep sight of the target right up to the moment when we started to pull out of the dive at about 3,000 feet. We didn't have a bomb sight but dropped our bombs by judgement. As we started to pull out of the dive and the target disappeared under the nose, we released the bomb. By this time having been in a steep dive for some 7,000 feet we were travelling very fast and the aircraft had to be very carefully handled or you could bend the wings by exerting too much 'G' force.”

“It always surprised me that we could achieve any accuracy bombing in this way but our results were consistently good and in this particular sortie our own troops were only about 250 yards from our target, so obviously our ‘Rover’ control had faith in our accuracy.”

“Having finished our bombing run we regained height whilst ‘Rover’ control was getting very excited saying that we had successfully destroyed the observation post and that the Germans were abandoning the place. He asked us if we could come in again for a strafing run as the Germans were all easily seen and without cover. We then made a low level attack, being guided by the controller and as we came in we could see the Germans running through an olive grove. We went in turn, firing our 20mm cannon and 0.5 machine guns, each of us making several attacks until all our ammunition was expended.”

These are the words of Bill Bundock, one of those unsung heroes who made up the majority of the Spitfire pilots who flew dangerous dive bombing sorties during the latter stages of the campaign in Italy in 1944/45, explaining in his own words what it was like to fly Spitfire ground attack missions against any targets which seemed to be blocking the progress of the Army on the ground.

Fighter Bomber Operations in Italy

During the winter of 1943/44 a new form of close air support, a ‘cab-rank’ system, was introduced by the Allies in Italy. Formations of patrolling fighter-bombers were maintained over the front lines to be called down upon targets by RAF liaison officers embedded with the forward elements of the Army. This command and control system was referred to by the British as “Rover David” or “Rover Paddy”, after the radio call sign of the ground controllers. The forward air control team, which usually consisted of a combat-experienced pilot and an Army officer, positioned itself overlooking the front line. Infantrymen encountering resistance that required air support ra­dioed the Rover unit, which passed the request to the fighter control centre. If a request was approved, the Rover unit contacted designated aircraft on station and the forward air controller identified and pin-pointed the target to the circling Spitfires, which then dropped their 500lb bombs on the targets, sometimes just a few hundred yards ahead of the advancing Allied ground troops. After the bomb dive, the Spitfires would pull-up, turn around and roar back down onto the target to make low-level strafing runs at any transport, armoured personnel carriers and anti-aircraft gun emplacements that were left intact. If the aircraft were hit during these low altitude runs, there was no time for the pilot to bale out successfully, and crash-landing in the unforgiving terrain was often an unsuccessful option.

601 Squadron

One of the RAF Spitfire squadrons involved in these operations in Italy was No 601 (County of London) Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force, which with 4 other Spitfire squadrons was part of 244 Wing. The pace of the war in Italy was relentless for 601 Squadron and so was the casualty rate. Group Captain Hugh ‘Cocky’ Dundas DSO*, DFC, the Wing Leader for 244 Wing, later opined that, “The last four to six months of the war in Italy were the most dangerous and terrifying period of the war. Not only were the Germans now extremely accurate in their ground-to-air firing, but a consignment of 500lbs bombs that we used had faulty detonators and at least two of our pilots were blown to smithereens in bomb dives”.

There can be no doubt that flying heavily bomb-laden Spitfires on ground attack sorties against a determined, disciplined, and dug-in foe was a very dangerous occupation. Consequently, many brave and skilled pilots of 244 Wing were lost over Northern Italy during the last hard-fought months of World War Two. Many of these men are now buried in the war cemeteries dotted around the Po valley, Ravenna, Venice, and Bologna, but many more still remain undiscovered along with the wreckage of their aircraft. Much less has been written about the Italy campaign than about the advance through northern Europe following D-day, but there can be little doubt that the Italy campaign was an equally grim and bloody struggle to victory.

During the final month of their war in Italy, 601 Squadron achieved a record 1,082 operational hours in the month – the first time that a fighter squadron had exceeded the thousand-hour mark in this theatre. There was a heavy price to pay for this. From 9 to 25 April 1945, when 244 Wing were in the forefront of the attack against the German ‘Gothic Line’, striking targets along the Senio River and the Po valley, anti-aircraft fire resulted in 55 of their Spitfires being destroyed. In addition, 41 of the Wing’s aircraft were so badly damaged by enemy fire that they could not be repaired and another 31 were hit and damaged but were repaired by the hard-working ground crews. Altogether, 127 of 244 Wing’s aircraft were hit by ground fire during this period of intense operations, more than a 100% strike rate by the enemy against the 90-100 aircraft with which the Wing started the month. The maximum pilot strength on each of the squadrons was 18 men, but in practice it was usually 15 or 16. Of those, nearly 15% were listed as dead or missing during these three weeks, and a good deal more had either baled out or force-landed.

601 Squadron’s last operational sortie took place only two days before the cease-fire and on this sortie the Spitfire of Flying Officer Hallas was hit by anti-aircraft fire. The aircraft crashed with Hallas still on board and he was killed – the last 601 Squadron wartime pilot to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Spitfire Mk IX MJ250

As a living and flying memorial to these courageous and determined Spitfire pilots, Spitfire Mk LFIXe MK356 is painted to represent Spitfire Mk IX MJ250 of 601 Squadron during the Italian campaign of 1944/45. MJ250 wore the 601 Squadron code UF-Q and was unusual in that it sported a natural, polished metal, all-silver finish (as shown in the only wartime photograph that exists of the aircraft) rather than the normal European theatre grey/green camouflage worn by the other aircraft of the Squadron at this stage of the war. Exactly why MJ250 was finished in this unusual natural metal scheme is not clear, although it may simply have been a trial of an all-silver colour scheme.

Spitfire Mk LFIX MJ250 was built by Vickers Armstrong in 1943, and was fitted with a Rolls Royce Merlin Mk 66 engine. It was delivered to the RAF in October 1943 and was shipped out to the Mediterranean theatre in the SS Fort George, leaving UK in December ’43. The Air Ministry Form 78 (the movement card) for this aircraft ‘dries up’ after MJ250 arrived in theatre in early 1944 but the 601 Squadron operational records (Form 541) show that MJ250 was being flown by the Squadron from July 1944, whilst the unit was operating from the airfields at Perugia, Loreto and Fano. The aircraft was used primarily for dive-bombing operations in support of the Army’s advance up through Italy, although it also flew some bomber escort sorties. MJ250 survived the war but was then scrapped.

Flight Lieutenant Desmond ‘Ibby’ Ibbotson DFC*

One of the 601 Squadron pilots who flew MJ250 regularly was Flight Lieutenant Desmond ‘Ibby’ Ibbotson DFC and Bar (always “Ibby” to his friends and colleagues). Born near Leeds on 25 October 1921, Ibbotson was educated at Harrogate Grammar School and before joining the RAF he worked as a draughtsman for a furniture manufacturer in Leeds. He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in July 1940 and was selected for pilot training, gaining his wings in 1941 as a Sergeant pilot. He converted to Spitfires with No 53 OTU before joining 129 Squadron at Leconfield in the summer of ’41. In August 1941 ‘Ibby’ was posted to 54 Squadron, flying Spitfires from Hornchurch on fighter sweeps over Europe. In September ’41 he made his first claim, damaging a Me Bf109.

In June 1942, he was posted to North Africa to fly Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawks with 112 Squadron (famously painted with shark’s mouths on their intakes). Billy Drake (eventually Group Captain DSO, DFC and Bar), the squadron commander of 112 Squadron in 1942, said of ‘Ibby’: “One of my best pilots, who arrived shortly after me, was Desmond Ibbotson, a delightful man, sound as a rock. He could always be relied upon to do what he was told, and do it well – he was completely and utterly reliable.”

Towards the end of 1942, ‘Ibby’ was commissioned and posted to 601 Squadron on Spitfires. He survived being shot down on 3 occasions in all during the desert war, in July, November and December 1942, surviving unscathed each time.

In December 1942, aged 21, ‘Ibby’ received the Distinguished Flying Cross. The citation which was promulgated in February 1943 read: “In the campaign in the Western Desert, Pilot Officer Ibbotson has flown with great distinction and has destroyed at least seven enemy aircraft. Throughout, his keenness and determination has been inspiring.”

‘Ibby’ returned to 601 Squadron in March 1944 at the Squadron’s request, flying Spitfires Mk IXs (including MJ250) and becoming a Flight Commander. By this time he had accrued 1,000 flying hours and had shot down at least 11 enemy aircraft (plus 4 probables and 5 damaged). Now an Acting Flight Lieutenant, the Bar to his DFC was awarded in May 1944, at the time of the Battle of Rome, the citation mentioning that he had “completed many attacks on locomotives, mechanical transport and petrol dumps”.

In August 1944 ‘Ibby’ was sent on a break from operational flying as an instructor at No 5 Refresher Flying Unit – formerly the Desert Air Force Training Flight – at Perugia. On 19 Nov 1944, one month after his 23rd birthday, ‘Ibby’ was conducting an air test in clipped wing Spitfire IX MH614. The aircraft crashed and he was killed. The cause of the accident will never be known but his Spitfire hit the ground South of Assisi with such force that parts of it were buried more than eight metres below the surface.

At the time of the crash what remains of ‘Ibby’ were found, were quickly buried in Assisi cemetery. However, the crash site was excavated in 2005 and more remains were found. So in June 2007 at a rededication service at Assisi, the Yorkshire-born pilot was finally laid to rest with full military honours and due ceremony, in the presence of some of his family.

In its silver colour scheme Spitfire MK356 commemorates the squadrons of the Auxiliary Air Force, those who participated in the Italian campaign and Flt Lt Desmond Ibbotson DFC* in particular.

Images:

Header Image: ( Larger size) MK356 as Silver UF-Q

Image 1: ( Larger size) 601 Squadron Aircrew including Flt Lt Ibbotson; fifth from the right

Image 2: ( Larger size) 601 Squadron Spitfire MJ25 in Nov 1944

Image 3: ( Larger size) Desmond Ibbotson DFC

Image 4L ( Larger size) Desmond Ibbotson DFC in his Spitfire

Image 5: ( Larger size) Crash site memorial

Image 6: ( Larger size) Desmond Ibbotson being carried in to Assisi Cemetary, 11 Jun 07

Image 7: ( Larger size) Coffin laid at the grave, 11 Jun 07

Image 8: ( Larger size) Desmond Ibbotson DFC laid to rest 11 Jun 07