90334 Fl Lt John Dundas DFC and bar

The reason for all the following info? Sav has been asked to do some artwork that can be used by the chap who produces THESE jackets. The new ones will be based on Fl Lt Dundas and Wing Commander Ian Richard Gleed, an experienced Hawker Hurricane pilot, who was also killed during WWII.

John Dundas

Born on 19th August 1915, in Perthshire, but the family moved to Yorkshire in the '30's. He became a journalist on the Yorkshire Post, critical of the pre-war Conservative government.

Dundas joined 609 Squadron at Yeadon in May 1938 and on the 11th June 1940 he formed part of the nine-strong Spitfire escort that flew with Churchill to France in his ill-fated attempt to convince the French to continue fighting.

In early November he became B Flight Commander and on 28th November 1940, flying Spitfire X4586 over the Isle of Wight, he destroyed a Messerschmitt but was in turn shot down and killed almost immediately, two miles south of the Isle of Wight at 16:15 hours by his victims wingman, Leutnant Rudi Pflanz.

( His victim, Major Helmut Wick, had claimed 56 victories and was the highest scoring Luftwaffe pilot at the time. He had been awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knights Cross during the Battle of Britain, one of only three pilots thus rewarded. He baled out just south of The Isle Of Wight into the Channel, but his body was never recovered ).

F/Lt Dundas was heard to say over the R/T 'I've finished an Me.109 - Whoopee! " after which nothing further was heard or seen of him.

Dundas, the last of the original Auxiliary Officers from 609, was described by S/Ldr Robinson as 'an excellent pilot, if a little overconfident, and had to be watched', the Squadron diary recording: 'His courageous example and breezy personality are sorely missed.' It also records that from 31st May to 28th November 1940, Dundas had accounted for 13+1/2 destroyed enemy aircraft, 7 damaged and 4 probable, a grand total of 24½ in all.

He was posthumously awarded the Bar to the DFC.