PA944 | American Air Museum in Britain

Belly Landing of Spitfire PR MK XI PA 944. 12th of September in 1944, John S Blyth, who by now had risen in the ranks to Captain, got into trouble while on a reconnaissance mission in Germany. His headset cord got caught in the CO2 manual system for the landing gear and the landing gear got locked up. He flew around trying to get the wheels down and failed. In the end, Blyth was forced to make a belly landing in the Spitfire.

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Spitfire PR XIT USAAF 7th Photo Recon Group,14th Recon Squadron PA944 Mount Farm, Oxfordshire 1944.

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Capt John S Blyth far left having belly landed Spitfire PA944 on September 12, 1944. Mount Farm, Oxfordshire, UK. Someone offered him a cigarette as he was shaken by the landing, which he took, though he didn't smoke !!

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Lt John S Blyth 14th Photo Squadron 7th Photo Recon Group, Mount Farm [AAF234], UK, 1943.

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A Mk XI Spitfire of the 14th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, PA944 assigned to Mount Farm, England, circa 1944. The Mark XI was a Mark IX Spitfire that had been modified for speed and loiter time. The Mark XI had its guns and armor removed and replaced with a more powerful engine and larger fuel tank. Pilots of the Mark XI took to the skies of war-torn Europe without weapons in order to take strategic photographs of German targets. These photographs allowed allied bombers to strike the most valuable enemy assets.

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Supermarine Spitfire PA944 PR Mk XI, Built at Chattis Hill Spitfire Factory.
Delivered to Benson 14-2-44, assigned to 14th PRS, 7th PRG, 8th AF, USAAF 20-4-44,
Flying accident Cat 3 12-8-44, to Heston Aircraft Ltd for repair 5-4-45, recat cat E 13-9-45, SOC.
The Spitfire was used extensively by Reconnaissance Units due to it's large fuel tanks and it's high maneuverability. Spitfires used by the American air force did not have any weapons as they were not needed by the units which would not get into dogfights as it would jeopardize the precious data which they had with them in the forms of photos. This left the best defense of reconnaissance Spitfires to be speed. During one mission of the Spitfire PA944 the plane took fire and the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel John Blyth had to take evasive action. On returning to Britain he found that he had suffered damage to the landing gears which had jammed and he was force to belly land the plane.

Service

Units

8th Air Force

Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945. ...
7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group

Group
Based for the majority of their service at Mount Farm, Oxfordshire, the 7th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance) took over three million intelligence photos during the course of 4,251 sorties over occupied Europe. The Group was awarded a Distinguished...
14th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron

Squadron

People

Leo Bazman

Military | Corporal | Machinist
John Blyth

Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group
31 October 1943 in F-5A#212322 forced to return to base due to equipment problems and haze. Attempting to land at RAF Thame, did not stop in time and had accident.
Verner Davidson

Military | First Lieutenant | Photo Reconnaissance Pilot | 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group

Missions

8th Air Force

12 September 1944

Places

Mount Farm

Military site : airfield
Originally a grass airfield satellite for the RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit at nearby RAF Benson, Mount Farm was built in 1940-1941. It had three concrete runways, 49 dispersals (24 concrete pan type plus 25 PSP squares), and eight blister...

Events

Event	Location	Date
Manufactured	Spitfire Lane, Chattis Hill, Stockbridge, Hampshire SO20 6JS, UK	February 1944
Built at Chattis Hill Spitfire Factory.
Delivered	Royal Air Force Station, Benson, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 6AB, UK	14 February 1944
Delivered to RAF Benson 14-2-44.
Assigned	Mount Farm Cottage, Dorchester, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 7PG, UK	20 April 1944
Assigned to 14th PRS, 7th PRG, 8th AF, USAAF 20-4-44.
Crashed	Mount Farm Cottage, Dorchester, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 7PG, UK	12 September 1944
Belly Landing in Spitfire PR MK XI PA 944. 12th of September 1944, John S Blyth, who by now had risen in the ranks to Captain, got into trouble while on a reconnaissance mission in Germany. His headset cord got caught in the CO2 manual system for the landing gear and the landing gear got locked up. He flew around trying to get the wheels down and failed. In the end, Blyth was forced to make a belly landing in the Spitfire.
To factory for repairs	Heston, Hounslow, Hounslow, Greater London TW5, UK	5 April 1945
To Heston Aircraft Ltd 5-4-45.
Re-categorised	Heston, Hounslow, Hounslow, Greater London TW5, UK	13 September 1945
Re-categorised to Cat E 13-9-45.
Struck Off Charge SOC	Heston, Hounslow, Hounslow, Greater London TW5, UK	14 September 1945
Struck Off Charge 14-9-45.

Date	Contributor	Update
12 August 2015 19:48:52	Al_Skiff	Changes to description, events, unit associations and mission associations
Sources
Spitfire Production List.
Date	Contributor	Update
15 July 2015 15:29:06	jrugman	Changes to markings and description
Sources
www.littlefriends.co.uk USAAF website
Date	Contributor	Update
22 January 2015 13:29:42	Al_Skiff	Changes to person associations
Sources
spitfirepilot.com
Date	Contributor	Update
20 January 2015 19:14:28	Al_Skiff	Created entry with serial number, aircraft type, production block number, manufacturer, events, unit associations, person associations and place associations
Sources
http://www.asisbiz.com / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie3SrjLlcUY#t=857