WoP3 Spitfire Mk.IIa P7856 "VZ-E" 412 Sqn RCAF 2024-07-10

412 'Falcon' Squadron's first operational sortie was on August 31, 1941. The squadron was equipped with Spitfire Mk. IIa aircraft, at the time, freshly painted in the new camouflage scheme introduced in mid August. While flying "VZ-E" on Oct. 13, 1941, Sergeant Edward N. Macdonell from Vancouver, British Columbia, was credited with the squadron's first victory when he destroyed a Bf.109 ten miles off Boulogne. "VZ-E" was also flown by P/O John G. Magee, Jr. - an American citizen who enlisted in the RCAF in Oct. 1940 and is best remembered for his poem 'High Flight'. Both these men died during the war and this repaint is in honour of their memory.