Why Did America Use British Spitfires? The Full Story

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The Spitfire's contributions to U.S. airpower are acknowledged at the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio and several examples are on display. We Buckeyes haven't forgotten. I personally love PRU blue and have a model of the recce version waiting to be built on the bench.

Won't lie, first time I saw a Spitfire with the American star on the side, it made my mind hiccup and I had to go look. Fortunately, it was at the USAF museum in Dayton, so there was plenty of data. It was parked near a Mustang and a Warhawk in RAF rondels.

"joyless jackbooted opponents" Reminds me of the Mitchell and webb comedy sketch. "Hans, are we the baddies!" Anyway, great video as always.

My grandfather flew as a B-17 tailgunner with the Eighth Air Force, during it's early days of operations in the autumn of 1942. The one story he told me that stands out is during one mission, a Luftwaffe fighter was closing in on his plane. Suddenly a USAAF Spitfire zoomed in and chased the German away.

The Spitfire has to be one of the most beautifully designed and iconic aircraft of all time. I do love the Hurricane, if flown well it could take on and defeat Bf 109E types. Was actually more maneuverable than the 109, could absorb more battle damage than a Spitfire. Hurricane was a steadier gun platform and the wide track undercarriage made it able to utilize rougher airfields. God save the RAF and the pilots who flew them!

As a warbird buff I can say with confidence that most warbird aficionados have high praise for the Spitfire as well as the Mosquito and Hurricane. In spite of my research I have found too little information on British planes wearing the stars and bars.

The Spitfire was unfairly credited with saving Britain during the blitz, whereas in actuality, the Hawker Hurricane performed the vast majority of the heavy lifting. This takes nothing away from the Spitfire, it is simply a matter of established fact.

The 52nd Fighter Group flew P39s in the US. They were shipped across the Atlantic to Belfast, Northern Ireland, and moved by truck to RAF Eglinton near Londonderry on the shores of Lough Foyle. The Fighter Group was based at Eglinton and it's satellite airfield at Maydown. They flew Miles Magisters before converting to Spitfires. They flew 6 combat convoy escort patrols (90 sorties) before being moved to England. The 52nd FG was deployed to North Africa (Operation Torch), then Sicily and eventually Corsica. It was whilst based in Corsica, they converted to Mustangs. The 52nd FG was followed at Eglinton by the 82nd FG which were equipped with P38 Lightnings. Those came from the Boeing Overseas Corporation facility at Langford Lodge on the shores of Lough Neagh. Eglinton and Maydown were transferred to the Royal Navy in May 1943. The bases were then used to fly aircraft on/off the escort carriers in the Battle of the Atlantic. The US Navy Base 1 Europe was at Londonderry.

The USAAF also operated British Bristol Beaufighters. The 414th, 415th, 416th and 417th flew mainly night fighter operations in the Med and France.

Fyi, High Ercall is pronounced High Arkle. My father flew Spitfires in Italy for the RAF, and he had the opposite happen to him, he was a Brit awarded the American DFC.

A US Army Airforce pilot named Fred Ohr flew a Spitfire in WW2 and he shared his experience, and it is on youtube. He survived despite the Spitfire's prop hitting ocean because the prop broke partially only because it was made of wood. In the video he talks about flying a Spitfire in bad weather, over ocean, hunting for enemy boat to strafe. The weather was bad, with 100 feet ceiling, over ocean. There were large, huge waves and he flew between tops of the huge waves to sneak up on an enemy boat to strafe. He did that successfully a few times while attacking a boat. He got kinda cocky and his Spitfire prop hit the ocean water. He wasn't sucked into the ocean because the Spitfire's wooden prop blade broke off partially and he was able to return to base alive. But the Spitfire's engine was totalled. The Korean American pilot, Fred Ohr, was born on July 15, 1919, in Oregon to Korean immigrants Wanda and Wan Ju, and grew up on a farm in the Boise, Idaho, basin. You may think, wait an ethnic Asian man flew a fighter for US Army Air Force in WW2? Yes. True story. You can go to youtube at watch?v=OBPEBqrZOzg&list=PLOYR_5-_Drr80b7sZ2TVksYTwsMVEAc70&index=4 and jump to 1:56 time to watch him share his experience flying a Spitfire over the Mediterranean ocean in WW2. You can also get to the video by searching for "81fg fred ohr 04" in Youtube search. 81fg is an RC plane club in S. Korea who reuploaded the video. His testimony about flying Spitfire is in video 4 of the 5 videos uploaded. The video was originally done by a high school student in Indiana, USA as a high school project around 2012 - 2013. The interview is broken up into 5 videos and uploaded to youtube. His story is incredible. I encourage all to watch all 5 videos.

I had no idea that so many Spitfires flew with USAAF markings and crews and populated so many squadrons. Very unsung indeed!

Another well-chosen topic, well written and produced. Thanks to all involved!!

The British flag on the map at 18:30 shows gives the impression that the Commonwealth were far back in eastern Libya but were actually on the western border whilst Algeria just shows an American flag but that allied force was both American and the British 1st Army.  The French had already been beaten by an under sized Commonwealth force in the Syrian campaign, including cavalry on both sides, which was hard fought over June and July 1941 until the French surrendered and most of them chose to return to France rather than join the Free French. The French Air Force in Syria was defeated and the French navy driven off or torpedoed by Royal Navy submarines and Swordfish torpedo bombers plus surface actions. The was every reason to expect a strong French defence against the invasion of North Africa. Similarly the Commonwealth invasion of Madagascar from May to November 1942 took seven months to finally defeat all French resistance.

What is often understated but is a fact is that the later post 1940 Spitfires in good condition and with decent pilots were able to outfight the Zero being faster heavier armed and armoured and more agile though the Zero even in 1945 could outmanoeuvre any US carrier fighter and that Seafires were regarded as the best point defence fighters available in the Pacific

Best aviation history channel on YouTube! I will become a patron in a couple of months, need to move first.

'Shouts of 'Achung Spitfeuer' only exist in Hollywood films. The main RAF fighter during the Battle of Britain was the Hurricane. The average battle life expectancy of the pilots was 6 weeks, they worked 16 hour shifts and were often outnumbered in the air by 25:1.

The Spirfire of the crash landing at 3:40 was piloted by American pilot John S Blyth; his Spifire's landing gear was stuck. He flew reconnaissance as far as Berlin in American marked PR blue Spifires. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie3SrjLlcUY

I found that this documentary taught me a couple of things and that is I never knew that the U.S, military were using the British SpitFire and being used by the navy a well.I have read numerous history books and not one of them mention it.Thank you for posting!!!