Supermarine Spitfire. Oceanian Users. Part One. New Zealand.

 

To type about the Supermarine Spitfire's service with New Zealand means to type about the No.485 Squadron, as it was the only unit of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (albeit under direct RAF command).

The No.485 Squadron was formed on 1st March 1941 at RAF Driffield in Yorkshire. It was initially equipped with old Spitfire Mk.Is and was formed with a mixture of both veteran New Zealander pilots coming from other units and novice ones. 

The Spitfire Mk.I was chose in order to accommodate most of the pilots to its usage. In Mid-April 1941 the squadron became operational and the Mk.Is were replaced with Mk.IIs and was tasked with patrolling the North Sea. On 3rd June 1941 the squadron achieved its first aerial victory when Marcus Knight (Squadron Leader) shot down a Junkers Ju.88 that was attacking a convoy off the Yorkshire coast.

From mid-June they were rebased to the south of England, to contribute to the defence of the Channel and in August they received the Mk.Vb. Equipped with this variant they had to face the fearsome German Focke-Wulf Fw.190, which inflicted various casualties in the squadron. 

They took part in the Channel Dash in 1942, clashing with the German fighter screen and in June 1943 they received the Mk.IX and had a very busy summer flying constant patrols over the European continent. 

In 1944 they were re-assigned to 2nd Tactical Air Force and they served through North West Europe campaign, providing air support to both British Second Army and First Canadian Army. In late August the squadron was rebased from the British Isles to Caen-Carpiquet Air Base, in France, to be closer to the Canadian Army advancing on the north coast of France. 

On 1st January 1945 the squadron suffered casualties when the Luftwaffe attacked during Operation Bodenplatte and, in February, they were called back to the United Kingdom, to be re-equipped with the Hawker Tempest, however, as the Tempest was limited in numbers, that change never took place and, two months later they were rebased to Twente, in Holland where they were re-equipped with the bubble canopied Spitfire Mk.XVIe. 

During this last period of the war, they flew mostly reconnaissance missions and rarely encountered any Luftwaffe aircraft. Their final encounter was with a German Messerschmitt Me.262 which was able to evade the Spitfires thanks to its superior jet engines.

The squadron was disbanded on 26th August 1945, with many of its personnel having already returned to England and New Zealand and many opting for joining either the RAF or the RNZAF in peacetime service.

Sources:

1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._485_Squadron_RNZAF

2nd http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RNZAF/No_485_sqn_RNZAF.html