"The Spook"

[Scherf]

Yes, it's a Mosquito, a fairly unique one. The USAAF used a number (around 140) of British-built Mosquitos, with the 25th BG (weather recce), the 492nd BG (covert ops) and the 416th NFS (night fighters in Italy), along with some training aircraft. The US also received 40 Mosquitos built in Canada. They were designated F-8s, for the reconnaissance role, however they were not particularly popular. (A fellow called Norman Malayney wrote an article in, I think, the journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society about why this was, however I've not read it.)

However, two of the F-8s did eventually make it overseas in USAAF service, the more famous of which was "The Spook". There's a good pdf about The Spook's story at a decals website, here:

http://www.fundekals.com/images/theSpook/SpookInst.pdf

The Spook was named after the pilot's baby son, who eventually posted the following info on the Army Air Forces Forum website:

"My father flew both the F-8 and the F-5 during WW-II...and assorted other aircraft from time to time. The F-8 was called the Spook, and I have quite a few pictures of it; however, I do not have any photos of my father with any of the F-5s he flew.


The F-8 aircraft was named after me, actually, as he considered me one of the scariest-looking babies he had ever seen...I was an infant at that time and I carry a picture of my father and me from back then in my wallet to this day...y'know, actually, to be perfectly honest about it, I was a pretty ugly baby - he could well have been right!).


Regarding your question about "...what became of him after he delivered the P-38 from the UK to Italy...", he actually flew the Spook from the US to England to Tunisia and eventually to Italy - not a P-38. Please see below.


As recorded in my father's flight notebook and in a number of photographs I have at home, my father and his navigator, Capt Alexander, flew his F-8 "Spook" Mosquito, Serial # 43-34926 from the US to La Marsa, Tunisia, arriving La Marsa on 18 Oct 1943 via Goose Bay, BW1, Meeks, Preswick, St Maugen (i.e., Cornwall!!!), and Casa Blanca. On 10 Nov 1943 he flew the Spook to Algiers with FDR, Jr (who was stationed with him at La Marsa). My father and the Spook transferred to San Severo, Italy on 7 Dec 1943. By 15 Jan 1944 he was at 5th Army HQ, living in a tent with Col Karl Polifka, his friend and commanding officer. (As a side note, I know Karl Polifka, Jr...we met years ago...it was a fascinating experience for both of us). My father's last recorded mission with the Spook was 13 Mar 1944, when he returned from a night mission north of Rome with a bad engine. Some time after that, he transferred to Bari, where he flew F-5s. On 10 Sep 1944 during a high-speed, low-level photo-recce mission over German positions in Greece, his F-5 was hit by ground fire, and he had to crash-land the F-5 into the water just off the coast of Greece. He survived the crash landing, and was picked up out of the water by Greek patriots who hid him out from the Germans until Athens was liberated and he could make it home.

Quick correction. I just re-read the original copy of my father's post-mission report from when he was shot down just off the coast of Greece. It begins: "Sept. 10. Sun. Departed San Severo 0930 i F-5 #123. Landed Bari 1000 and had fuel topped off...."
My earlier statement about my father transferring to Bari must have been incorrect, as it looks like he remained at San Severo.


I have seen references to the fact that the Spook was shot down before (as mentioned in Leendert's note above), but I expect such stories may be confused with the F-5 shoot-down, since I learned in 1998 that the Spook ended its career during a crash landing on 19 Aug 1944 while assigned to the 12th AF 29 Jul 1998 letter from the Air Force Historical Research Agency along with a copy of the flight log, not quite a month before my father's F-5 was shot down (10 Sep 1944).


After the war, both Alexander and my father remained in the USAF. My father became ill with a brain tumor in 1958 while attending the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Ft McNair, and, as noted in shooshoobaby's note above, passed away in 1960. He and my mother are buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Alexander ("Alex" to us) eventually retired in Watsonville, CA (near where Col Polifka's wife Helen lived), and he passed away several years ago.

(http://forum.armyairforces.com/tm.aspx?m=118182&high=Mosquito)"

[lyric1]

I have several photos of this aircraft as well.

[colmbo]

I have a friend who flew with the 31st FG.  On Dec. 26, 1944 he and 3 other 31st  pilots escorted a photo-recon Mosquito out of San Severo.  On ingress they received some AAA, then on the way out the flight lead decided to attack the AAA site.  Lead's wingman and Bill's wingman were both lost over the target.  As Bill departed the area his engine quit, he had been hit over the target as well.  He bailed out landing in the Adriatic and was picked up by an Air Corp PBY.

I wonder if it was "The Spook" they were escorting?


It's a really small world sometimes.

[Scherf]

Hi Columbo,

I've done a bit of digging - there were two RAF Mosquito photo-recce squadrons at San Severo at that point, 60 SAAF and A Flight of 680 Squadron. I believe the USAAF was no longer using photo recce Mossies in the Med at that point, certainly "The Spook" and her sister ship "Faintin' Floozie III" would have been at a severe performance disadvantage, as the Canadian-built Mosquitos all had single-stage Packard-Merlin 30-series engines. The late-war PR.XVIs used by the RAF, and by the USAAF in the U.K., all had two-stage Merlins for high-altitude performance.

Between them, the two San Severo units flew twelve sorties on December 26 '44, nine by 60 SAAF, three by 680 Sqn. Both squadrons apparently indicate which sorties were/were not escorted (though I can't be sure they were always consistent in doing so.) The SAAF ops record book specifies that one of their sorties had an escort of five Mustangs into the area from southeast of Munich to just east of Ulm. The sortie was flown by Capt. Barry and Lieut. Jeffreys, both South African, in NS674. A quick gander at a great circle route site says the flight path would likely have come very close to the northern Croation coast.

Do you or any of the Virtual 31st guys have the MACRs for the two pilots who were lost? The reports might have some additional info which might make things clearer.

[Airscrew]

someday I'll do a model of a Mossie,  this just maybe the one.   

[colmbo]

Do you or any of the Virtual 31st guys have the MACRs for the two pilots who were lost? The reports might have some additional info which might make things clearer.

I do not.

He didn't mention who the Mossi belonged to, I just assumed it was a US plane since the 31st escorted it but just as likely to have been an allied unit.

[lyric1]

[Guppy35]

Two examples of why it's dangerous to trust profiles.  Looking at the actual photos you can see the red surround to the star and bar, yet the to profiles missed it.  It's possible the star and bar got updated, but the images seem to only support the red outline

Interesting stuff....now bout the Beaufighter

[Scherf]

Thanks for those shots. If 334926 (The Spook) was flown back out to the U.K. by Fillingham, I'd not heard about it, perhaps he flew it back in for a service/review before it went back out to the Med - apparently it was lost there, though records can go wrong.

According to the data I have, 11 of the USAAF's Canadian-built F-8s ended up in the hands of the RAF, some as trainers but most on active bomber squadrons.

Thanks for the reply Columbo, I'll have a sniff around and see if I can't get my hands on those MACRs. There was one Mosquito that day which was bound for Austria but turned back not long after the Aegean coast with engine trouble, might have been that one, but as I say, most of the escorted sorties seem to have been going further west, over southern Germany.

[lyric1]