Here's a couple more of Terry Spencer. First one was taken right before he took off on a flight where he was shot down by flak. He was captured, then escaped with another former Spit XII driver. They stole a motorcycle and rode across the Remagen Bridge to the Allied lines. And it wasn't any movie when they did it
This one has Spencer in the middle sitting in the car. I'd gotten this photo from a Warrant Officer pilot who flew XIIs with 41 at Lympne before going on to Typhoons for the run across the continent. When I showed Terry his response was "That's the Blue Peril!"
Not knowing what the heck he was talking about I asked him to explain. The car he is sitting in was his during the war and it was blue. Apparently you could get a lot of Spitfire pilots in it for the run to the pub when needed. Running on high octane avgas didn't always work well at times, hence the Peril part of the equation. Although I think an overload of drunken Spit pilots might also play a part in that name
I had a chance to correspond or meet 5 of the 6 guys in that photo taken at Lympe during August of 44 while they were still in Spit XIIs. Left to right, New Zealander Brian Weeds, Danny Weeds, who shot down a 262 in a Spit XIV, Terry Spencer, who claimed the last kill in a Spit XII when he downed JG 54 ace Bully Lang in his 190 in September 44, Pete Hale, Canadian Bill Stowe whose Spit XIV RM797 still exists and is being restored in Australia, and a Belgian pilot whose name escapes me at the moment.
