Personal Spitfire LF MkVb (AB502) of Wing Commaner Ian R. Gleed, North Africa, 1943. 
 
By 1942, the Desert Air Force was having fits, attempting to fend off the Bf-109Es and Fs of JG27 with Hurricanes and Curtiss Tomahawks. Demand for the Spitfire in other theaters of war was such that the only Spitfires in the Mediterranean were on Malta.  After the battles there in the Spring of 1942, Air Vice Marshal Keith Park was able to release 601 Squadron to the Desert Air Force, where it joined 145 Squadron and later 92 Squadron to be 244 wing, the first unit of Spitfires in North Africa. Shortly thereafter a new Wing  Commander was sent to take command of the Desert Air Force's most modern fighter unit for what was seen as the final battle for control of North Africa - Ian Gleed. 

Gleed took an immediate liking to the tropical Spitfire Vb as modified at the depot in Aboukir, Egypt, where the technicians had come up with a much more compact, aerodynamic air filter than the Vokes filter, which took off a good 25-30 mph in top speed from the fighter. The neat Aboukir filter only shaved off about 5 mph. 

Between his arrival the month before the battle of El Alamein began and his death, Gleed brought his score up to 15 kills, with a final victory against a Bf-109G over Tunisia on March 17, 1943.  On the 16th of April 1943 Gleed was killed in a fighter sweep in the Cap Bon area.  He was shot down in his Spitfire by Bf 109's from JG 77. 

Gleed Ian Richard RAF 15 kills with 266 & 87Sq, Middle Wallop Wing, Ibsley Wing, 145Sq, 244 Wing; KIA 16/Apr/1943 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This skin was created by Nico L'As from an original paintwork by DeanH and a 3Dz model by Col.Gibbon. Informations on Gleed and his planes by Tom Cleaver. 
(http://www.making-history.ca/features/british/tc-gleed/default.htm)


Enjoy it !

Nico

