{"id":3076,"date":"2010-07-17T12:27:33","date_gmt":"2010-07-17T11:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/?p=3076"},"modified":"2013-03-28T10:50:03","modified_gmt":"2013-03-28T09:50:03","slug":"the-darlington-spitfire-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/?p=3076","title":{"rendered":"The Darlington Spitfire"},"content":{"rendered":"

I found that it had spent no less than three and a half years with the wartime RAF, in that time serving with six operational squadrons and making a total of 161 recorded sorties. Its victory score was three enemy aircraft destroyed, another three and a half probable, and one damaged.<\/p>\n

The monograph which resulted from these researches was completed in October 1986. It was too long for an article and too short for a book. Therefore, for 13 years, it rested unseen in my study. However, when I started a web site in 1999, I was able to put the full text online here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In fact, that same year Peter Caygill – a resident of Darlington in County Durham – produced the book that I would love to have written. Entitled “The Darlington Spitfire: A Charmed Life”, it was published by Airlife Publishing Ltd.<\/p>\n

One the RAF pilots who flew “The Darlington Spitfire” was Roy Flight. He was her regular pilot at 118 Squadron and, over a period of two months, she carried him into battle on a total of 26 operations, never failing to bring him back unharmed. You can find my account of this period in sections five to seven<\/a> of my essay.<\/p>\n

I was absolutely delighted to receive an e-mail this week from a neighbour of Roy Flight who assures me that he is still alive and well, now a retired doctor aged 86 living on the North Island of New Zealand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"