I had originally planned to use this model, the Airfix Supermarine Spitfire PR.XIX, as the base for my 'Camoutint Pink' photo Reconnaissance Spitfire but after discovering that Airfix had included decals for an historic Spitfire which flew during the Malayan Emergency, where my father completed a tour of duty while serving in the British Army, I naturally had to adjust my plans!
Today's model, therefore, has been finished in the colour scheme of PR.XIX PS888 flown by Sqn Ldr Swaby, of 81 Squadron, RAF Seletar, Singapore, who on April 1st 1954, flew the Supermarine Spitfire's last ever RAF operational sortie over Malaya. I do now wonder whether my Father ever saw it fly over him as he cut his way through the Malayan jungle when he was there in the early 1950s.
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| PR.XIX PS888 of Sqn Ldr Swaby, 81 Squadron, Singapore |
The story of 'The Last' Spitfire ..
Factoid about why the Spitfire was over Hainan Island. One official line I've seen was that Powles was taking meteorological readings for a new commercial air route ... but I've also seen reference to Hainan Island being targeted at the behest of US Naval Intelligence for RAF overflights. This coincides with, a year earlier, the island being the last Chinese province to be taken control of by the Communists and the outbreak of the Korean War; tensions were high right across the area!
RAF Spitfires joined Operation Firedog, the name given to the Royal Air Forces’ contribution to the Malayan Emergency, from the very start of hostilities. This conflict between the pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military wing of the Malayan Communist Party, and British Commonwealth Forces broke out on 16 June 1948 when soldiers of the MNLA killed three British rubber-planters at Sungai Siput, Perak. This conflict, which descended quickly into a guerrilla war primarily against British colonial rule, was to last for the next 12 years.
The Spitfire’s first role over Malaya was one of photographic reconnaissance (PR) in support of ground forces taking tactical photographs to seek out MNLA positions and in providing systematic 'Block Cover' of the whole country from which up-to-date maps were prepared. Three weeks into the Emergency, fighters from 81 Squadron were called to enter the fray launching air to surface rockets against an MNLA camp as located by their PR colleagues. While the conflict in Malaya primarily involved ground forces in jungle warfare, the 16 Spitfires from 60 and 81 Squadrons, based in Singapore, flew some 1,800 missions against Communist positions. The last offensive sortie made by RAF Spitfires was flown on 1 January 1951 when four fighters from 60 Squadron, led by Grp Capt Wilfrid Duncan Smith, flew in an operation on a target near Kota Tinggi, Johor. Rolls Royce and Vickers Armstrong subsequently presented them with a silver model Spitfire to commemorate the event!
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| Sqn Ldr W P Swaby |
With 60 Squadron now having laid claim to the honour of flying the Spitfire’s last sortie in 1951, you would be right to point out the error in my opening comment of it being 81 Squadron's flight in 1954 to achieve this accolade. However, the RAF at the time were working on the assumption that PR flights did not count as ops and so the 1951 date was to stand ... that was, until Sqn Ldr W P Swaby, 81’s Squadron Commander, decided to take the matter up officially, and in a letter to Far East Air Force Headquarters it is said he wrote:
"It is noted that the flying carried out by the Spitfires of No. 81 Squadron should not have been classified operational with effect from January 1st 1951, and you are therefore requested to transfer the total of 1874.25 hours and 1029 operational sorties flown from that date to the training columns. Alternatively, the squadron will be pleased to accept an 18 inch high silver model of a Spitfire from the Commanding Officer of No. 60 Squadron in commemoration of current operations!"
As a result of this, on November 21st 1954, Rolls Royce and Vickers Armstrong made amends by presenting 81 Squadron with their own silver Spitfire. The presentation was even made by Jeffrey Quill, the former Supermarine Chief Test Pilot who had flown every mark of Spitfire, including the first prototype in 1936.
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The picture above shows my Spitfire PR Mk XIX PS888 with the words, "The Last!" painted on the port side engine cowling. These words were in fact applied about an hour after the aircraft returned from its mission – a photo-recce sortie over a suspected MNLA camp in Johore – by one George Travis, 81 Sqn member, and ex sign-writer. Once duly painted, Sqn Ldr Swaby, the pilot, and 81 Sqn CO, along with the Station CO, Grp Cpt T King, conducted a small ceremony out by the aircraft, and that was it. In the Spitfires' place and for the next 6 years of the conflict it was the role of the new jets, the de Havilland Vampires and Canberras.
And finally here's an amusing closing anecdote recounted by David Taylor, author of the 2002 book, Seletar - Crowning Glory: A History of the RAF in Singapore ..
"To end the sour grapes by 60 Sqdn at having had the honour rightfully wrested from their grasp, that the matter should be ended once and for all by an air to ground attack on 60 Sqdn lines. Approval was apparently forthcoming, (Sqn Ldr Swaby, in his quest for justice, again went right to the top and this raid was given ‘Firedog1 status, with authority to use 200 sheets of ‘Aunty Mary’ issue Bog Rolls. Bog Rolls were duly armed to unravel upon release and installed in the Spitfire PR 19 bomb rack flaps and 1/4 flaps selected. It is said that PS 888, still bearing 'The Last!’ livery, was used for this operation."
Boys will be boys!
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The Model ...
Make: Airfix
Model: Supermarine Spitfire Pr.XIX
Scale: 1:72
Item code: A02017A
Year of Release: 2017
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