1 Squadron RCAF pilots and their Hurricane Mk1, at Prestwicke, Scotland. They would be the only RCAF Squadron to fight in the BOB. One year later, they would re-number as 401 Squadron. Photo IWM CH 1733. RAF Photographer Devon, SA. Colourization by Richard Molloy.
At noon on June 12, 1942, Flight Lieutenant Alfred Kitchener "Ken" Gatward and his navigator Flight Sergeant Gilbert Fern flew at low level in a Beaufghter Mk Ic up the Champs-Élysées in Paris hoping to strafe a German parade that happened daily. As it turned out, the parade did not take place that day but they did shoot up the Ministère de la Marine which housed the German High Command Headquarters.
One of Flight Sergeant George Fern's amazing photographs taken at extreme low level as he and Gatward rip down the Champs Élysées from the Arc de Triomphe. Armed with a heavy F24 aerial camera, and shooting from the navigator's blister half way down the fuselage, Fern snapped this shot of the entrance of The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées exhibition hall and museum.