AN343 'X'

Rex Wilson with AN343 'X' in Nov 1941.

AN343 'X' in Nov 1941. This is another repaint in 'A' pattern where they repainted the area behind the rear quarter windows in Midstone. We cannot see the lower surfaces in the image above but I have assumed they would be repainted in light Blue, this being a full repaint. BTW I think that is Fred Inger in the cockpit, he was a ground member of 3 Sqn at this time, after he returned to Australia he undertook pilot training and was the pilot of several Spitfire Mk.VIII airframes coded ZP-Y with 457 Sqn (e.g A58-419 'Blondie' (see https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/JG549).

AN390 'Z'

The main image of AN390 apparently after they stripped a few parts off the wreck.

What happened to AN390 has been referred to several times as 'unknown' not helped by ADF Serials claiming it as shot down in the big dogfight of 22 Nov 1941 (when 3 Sqn lost 5 airfarmes). They are incorrect, getting it confused with AK390 which WAS lost on that day, they list both as being shot down on 22 Nov. AN390 is last mentioned in the ORB (Operational Records Book) on 30 Oct 1941. It was scheduled to fly an operation but there is a comment that AN390 'remained on the ground', not being mentioned again. Either that day or very shortly thereafter it was clearly involved in a ground collision, the extent of the wing damage shows this did not happen in flight. Paul McGinnis lists it as going to 53 RSU at that time.

AN390 'Z' 30 Oct 1941. The light colour of the tail wheel doors (where they are in the sunlight) leads me to believe that the lower surfaces are still Dupont Sky Grey. Colour behind the rear quarter windows looks fairly light in tone, may be Midstone as I have drawn them but it may just be reflection off the glass. I drew the spinner in Red originally but on thinking further it may be a bit early for that colour, so changed to Black. Really hard to tell because of the massive oil leak covering the nose.

Postcript - Flying Officer H. G. H. Roberts' diary on the 3 Sqn website says '02 Nov- The night fighters' Squadron, No.30, has taken up positions here and in two nights they smashed up as many of their kites - and one of them ran into Sam Lee's crate and ripped a wing off'. This is very likely the incident when AN390 was badly damaged in a ground collision per above.

AM392 Rex Wilson

'On 30 Nov 1941 SGT Rex Wilson [AM392] had just lost contact with a Bf109 he had engaged when another unseen 109 attacked from low astern and hit the underside of Wilson's aircraft. Wilson immediately half rolled and climbed up sun but could not see his attacker and was about to rejoin the fight when he saw the hydraulic system was damaged and the indicator showed the port wheel and tail wheel were down and the flaps had dropped to 20 Deg down. He then aborted and headed for base but as he neared LG.122 the hydraulics failed completely causing him to crash land on the outskirts of the aerodrome'.(Paul McGinnis)

The 2nd image is AWM 021919. Below is AWM images 021920 and 021921.

Despite having a fairly large scan of image 021921, I could not find a code letter on the fuselage. It quite possibly may not have one yet as according to Paul McGinnis it was only delivered to the Sqn on 20 Nov. It did not fly any operations till 26 Nov and was shot up on it's 5th or 6th flight on 30 Nov. Previous to coming to 3 Sqn, it had been with 250 Sqn where it was flown by Australian Ace Bob Whittle, coded LD-W and marked "Nux Vomica" under the cockpit. Repaired and later transferred to 5 Sqn SAAF. Due to uncertainty in coding I have not done a profile.

AK439 'Cleo' and AN373 'Cleo II'

This is AK439 the first 'Cleo', note the 'A' pattern camouflage. AWM image 010217.

'Cleo I & II' (AK439 and AN373 respectively) were two airframes flown by Flying Officer H. G. H. Roberts whose diary is on the 3 Sqn website. He quotes AN373 for 'Cleo II' and by cross referencing with the ORB, Craig Busby was able to ascertain that AK439 was 'Cleo I'. AK439 needed to go for a major servicing so it was replaced by another airframe AN373. F.Off Roberts transferred the nose panel to his new machine, and 'II' was added to the original name to create 'Cleo II'. A piece of female artwork had also been added (likely before transfer) to what was originally just a plain name.

And this is AN373 'Cleo II', with nose panel transferred from AK439. Unfortunately neither Craig Busby or I have any info as to what the code letters were on the Cleos, that and no overall images mean I did not attempt profiles.

Similarly there are a few other known names on airframes with no details available. 'The Blue Peter' and 'Olive Oyl' plus a few others with names but photos are not detailed enough to read them. If anyone has details on these or other airframes with names please get into contact with me (Steve).

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