Don Kingaby - Query

[Charles Detheridge]

Greetings

As one who has just joined this forum - and will probably produce a number of ****-ups, - could I ask if anyone has discovered the identity of the Spitfire V flown by Don Kingaby (hopefully shown in the attached photo if I have attached it) - the emblem seems to be something like either a cartoon lion or baboon - but I could be wrong with that as well.

Any comments / thoughts / insults accepted!

Charles

Charles Detheridge
Suffolk UK

 

[vikingBerserker]

Welcome aboard Charles. I'm afraid I only see a red X

 

[Airframes]

I can see the pic, and I know the name. But I'd need to know which squadron he was on when that pic was taken to get anywhere near an answer. It's difficult to be certain, but the Spit looks like either a MkII, or an early MkV, just going off the 'knock out' panel in the canopy, the external armoured windscreen, and the 'Jubilee' clips for the crow bar on the entrance flap.
BTW Charles, did you once live in Manchester? Sorry if not, but I once knew someone by the same name, about thirty years ago, with an aviation interest.

 

[Charles Detheridge]

Maybe one of these will upload!

Charles

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Greetings Charles, the emblem looks like a Baboon to me. You've come to the right place. I'm sure someone here knows all about this person.

Cheers...

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Donald Ernest Kingaby DSO, AFC, DFM Two Bars was a British flying ace of the Second World War.

He was the only RAF pilot to be awarded the DFM three times.

In June 1940, as a Sergeant Pilot, he joined No. 266 Squadron flying the Supermarine Spitfire Mark I.

During the initial stages of the Battle of Britain he damaged two Junkers Ju 88 bombers and a Bf 110 fighter before being transferred to No. 92 Squadron, in September 1940.

During 1941 RAF Fighter Command went onto the offensive with its fighter sweeps over occupied Europe. With 92 Squadron, Sgt Kingaby claimed a dozen more kills and was dubbed by the press the "109 specialist". In October 1941 he was commissioned as an officer and rested from operations.

In March 1942 he was back on operations with No. 111 Squadron. That April, Kingaby joined No. 64 Squadron, with which he shot down another couple of German fighters. Later in the year Kingaby was posted to No. 122 Squadron as flight commander and then squadron commander. In March 1943 he was promoted to lead the "Hornchurch Wing".

After a rest period at Fighter Command HQ he was back as a wing leader in the summer of 1944 over the invasion beaches of France. His last kill was a share in a Bf 109 on 30 June, bringing his total to 21.

Information as found on line on a Wiki...

 

[Airframes]

Good info NFN.
Charles, first of all, great to 'meet' you again after nearly thirty years ! I 'm still amazed that it's only a few weeks ago when I saw your name and old address on the envelope with the CF5 plans in it, and now you appear here on the forum !!
Anyway, I'm still looking for info on the badge, as I think I might have either a photo or profile with it included somewhere.
I can't promise anything, but if I find it, I'll let you know straight away.
And a brief note to Andy (Crimea River) - the CF 5 stuff I sent you originally came from Charles here, in the early 1980s !!

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Those squadrons were in Rodesia, East India, and Bombay. If this is a Baboon, I would guess that what he is sitting in is a Spitfire Mk. I, otherwise the only other information I can google with any association to this man is a Spitfire Mk. V.

 

[Airframes]

Charles says it's a Spit MkV, which would be right for an early version. (It's got the external armoured windscreen and the earlier hood, with flat sides and 'knock out' emergency panel.)
The clips on the entrance flap are for the crowbar, which wasn't fitted to the Mk1 in squadron service. It came about mainly due to problems experienced in the BoB, when many pilots wree trapped in the cockpit, often fatally, when trying to abandon the aircraft, because either the canopy jammed, or the air pressure, against the flat sides of the Perspex, prevented the canopy from being slid back at high speed, especially in a dive or uncontrolled spin. (The early canopy did not have the jettison pins and wires, and could only be slid back, not jettisoned.) The crow bar was to help lever the canopy open the first inch or two. Once that was achieved, it could then be slid back, as the 'vacuum' had been broken, and the slipstream assisted in its movement.
BTW, none of the squadrons mentioned were in Rhodesia, Bombay or East India. They all spent WW2 in the ETO and MTO.
The place names are squadron 'associations', and the names of the squadron. For example, 92 Squadron was 'East India' Squadron, originally only one Flight within the Squadron bearing this name, following 'gifts' of Spitfires from the East India Fund - monies raised by donation, in East India, some from ex-pats, to pay for Spitfires. As so many went to this squadron, they adopted the name 'East India', and this was eventually officially incorporated in the Squadron crest.
This practice was not uncommon, as funds were sent from all over what had once been, and still was in places, the British Empire, to help the war effort 'at home'.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

You're right he did mention that it was a Mk V. Sorry, glazed over it while reading your other posts. As for where this picture was taken, I read that he was part of the squadron covering North Africa and going by the number of crosses on this plane, and the fact that he has posed for this picture as if it were an official kind of photo, I would say he is an officer at this time. Therefore I believe this plane to be either part of the 111th Sqdrn or the 122nd Sqdrn.

 

[Airframes]

I should have mentioned. Charles and I had a 'conversation' via PMs, and he told me it was a 92 Sqn aircraft, again born out by the presumed time period, it being an early MkV. It also appears to be in the ETO 'Day Fighter' scheme, and the first code letter, hidden by the open cockpit flap, would seem to be the 'Q' of 92 Squadron's code letters, 'QJ'. The other squadrons, 64, 111 and 122 (never 64th or 122nd btw, just the number, and normally pronounced 'Treble One', or 'Ninety Two Squadron', for example) had the code letters SH, JU and MT respectively, although in the MTO, normally the individual aircraft code letter only was carried.
92 Sqn embarked for the Middle East in February 1942, IIRC, so that would put the posted pic before this date, especially as Kingaby is wearing a Service shirt and tie, definitely not the norm for North Africa or Italy !
The pic is almost certainly an 'official' issue, or perhaps taken on a 'Press Day', again a relatively common event where 'aces' were concerned - the newspapers of the day would publish some blurb about 'how our boys are sweeping the Hun from the skies, blah blah...' as a morale booster for the general public, and a pic of a fighter aircraft with a row of 'kills' on the side would be a godsend to the Press photographers.
Anyway, I'll press on and try to find a pic or profile, as I'm fairly sure I have one somewhere in my piles of 'research archives' cunningly disguised as heaps of papers, books, magazines, photos and other trivia !!

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Thanks, that's very informative... Hey, I tried.

 

[Airframes]

No problem, and a good effort !

 

[Airframes]

Well Charles, so far I've found a profile of his MkIX of 64 Sqn, in July 1942. This was the first MkIX to shoot down an enemy aircraft, but there isn't any cartoon or other 'artwork' on the aircraft. This was in Osprey' 'Late Marque Spitfire Aces' book, and the pic you posted has a similar 'frame' style, so it might be in Osprey's 'Early Spitfire etc'.
If you can get hold of a copy of this, there could very well be a profile, which might show the MkV and the insignia.
Meanwhile, I'll keep searching, as there may be a pic hidden away in another book somewhere.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

I did a little research into photos and art work surounding Mr. Kingaby. Here are a couple of items I found, hope they are helpful... The first one is suppose to show Kingaby as he shot down a Ju88 while in the 92 sqd.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

I found a few more photos of Kingaby... Of course this seems odd since they credit him with 21 planes shot down but here is a photo of his plane and I see 22 +'s. Hmmmm...

 

[Airframes]

Nice work mate. The Lion badge has some of the same shape as seen in the badge on the MkV Charles posted, so could be the same or a development of it. The aircraft seems to be his MkIX of 122 Sqn. As for his 'kills', I think it was actually 22 he got, as shown on the Spit, but I'd need to find the info to confirm this, which must be with the same source as the other stuff on him, in the book I can't find !!

 

[Wayne Little]

Great pics Bill!

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Perhaps the star and lion may be a later emblem because no matter how I look at it, the first photo looks more like a baboon than a star and lion.

 

[Airframes]

I agree about the star. I can't make out the baboon, or lion, or whatever it is, in the first pic, but it has some similar shapes, and might be an earlier version of a lion badge?
There's something ringing bells here, about emblems being based on characters from a story by Kipling, the one known today by Disney's movie 'The Lion King'. If I could just remember which book it is in, I'd know where to look !
Ah well, only another 100 or so books to leaf through, then another 100+ on my PC ........