Object description
Four pilots of No. 611 Squadron RAF walking away from a Supermarine Spitfire Mark VB at Hornchurch, Essex, after a daylight sweep over France. They are (left to right): Flight-Lieutenant E S Lock, Pilot Officer W G G Duncan-Smith, Flying Officer P G Dexter, and Sergeant W M Gilmour. Lock arrived at 611 Squadron as a flight commander, having already shot down 24 enemy aircraft. He was to add a further 2 to his score before he was shot down and killed by ground fire during another daylight sweep near Boulogne, France, on 3 August 1941. Duncan-Smith later commanded No. 64 Squadron RAF and led fighter wings in the United Kingdom, North Africa and Italy. He finished the war with a score of 19 victories. Dexter was killed a week after this photograph was taken, when he collided with an aircraft of 54 Squadron RAF over Boulogne while escorting bombers to Hazebrouck. Gilmour was subsequently commissioned and commanded No. 19 Squadron RAF in 1944.
Label
Pilots of No. 611 Squadron walk away from a Supermarine Spitfire Mk V at Hornchurch after a daylight sweep over France, 7 July 1941.
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