[烛光生存狂]-冰岛王牌战斗机飞行员

Most World War 2 enthusiasts have never heard of Þorsteinn Elton Jónsson. Well, neither had I until I found a blurb about him on some Icelandic tourism site (http://islandia.nomius.com/history/ace.html).

His exploits were truly amazing. He was born in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, at a time when his country was still a Danish colony. Nine days after tiny Denmark was invaded and taken over the Germans, Jónsson left Iceland on a fishing ship and arrived in England few days later, determined to fight. In June of 1940 he joined the RAF and took part in basic training for 3 weeks at Padgate, England. Then he spent about a month at the great RAF airbase at Debden while he waited to be admitted into the flight schools. Finally he was sent to Babbacombe (in southern England) for his initial flight training. When the Battle of Britain began the training was moved to Aberystwyth in Wales, away from marauding German bombers. He finished ground training late in August of 1940.

Jónsson's actual flight training started in October of 1940, at Desford airbase, where he flew DeHavilland Tiger Moth biplanes. While there he was selected for further training as a fighter pilot. Next, Jónsson was sent to Heston airbase, located in the western suburbs of London, to learn the advanced tactics required of a fighter pilot. Soon after that the flight training was moved to Llandow, in southern Wales, and from there he graduated to operational status.

Jónsson's first operational posting was to 17 Squadron, located at Elgin, Scotland. There he first cut his teeth on the famous Hawker Hurricane fighter. At this time, 17 Squadron was resting and refiting after their distinguished part in the Battle of Britain. Thus, the squadron's main duty was to fly cover over nearby convoys, a relatively menial task at that time.

Having enough of the convoy scene, Jónsson was reassigned to 111 Squadron, based at North Weald airbase and later in North Africa. This squadron was equiped with the newer Supermarine Spitfire Mk V's. Flying over the Western Desert, Jónsson won his first victory, a Heinkel He-111 bomber. After that, he shot down 3 more enemies until the end of 1942--another He-111, a Ju-88 multi-purpose warplane and an Me-109F fighter. At the end of February 1943 he was well over the 200-hour combat-flying-time rule and was sent to Scotland for a well-deserved rest. There he took over a post as a flight instructor in Dundee.

In January 1944 Jónsson was reassigned for service in the 65th squadron, located at Gravesend, which was at that time re-equiping to Mustang Mk.IIIs from their shorter-range Spitfire Mk.IX's. As a member of this unit, he participated in the air battles during and after D-Day around northern France. Jónsson flew various missions with that unit, ranging from ground attack strikes to escorting bombers over Germany. He was again over the 200-hour limit and was sent to Iceland for home leave in February of 1945.

Returning to duty, Jónsson joined the 187th Transport Training Squadron in 1945 and after that flew DC-3 transport aircraft for a year or so, carrying men and materiel as far away as India.

In total, Jónsson was credited with 8 kills and 5 probables. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (the enlisted-man's and NCO's version of the Distinguished Flying Cross) early in 1943. He left the RAF in December, 1946, and moved back to Iceland.

After returning to Iceland, Jónsson set out on a career as a commercial pilot and later formed the Icelandic Air Rescue Squadron (Flugbjorgunarsveitin i Reykjavik). He even took part as a pilot in the humanitarian aid flights during the Biafra war, where his plane came under fire on several occasions, even taking hits! The last I heard, he is still alive and living peacefully in his hometown of Reykjavik.

新用户注册返回首页
首页上一页下一页尾页页次1/1 转到第页