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The result of being hit by Anti Aircraft fire on a Rhubarb over the Zuider Zee on November 13, 1943. Flight Lieutenant Arthur Sager of 416 Squadron RCAF managed to return to base with the damaged aircraft. Sager managed to bring his Spitfire Mk. V back to Colishaw even though his radio had been destroyed and he was slightly injured.
Later in the War Sager would command 443 Squadron and would win the DFC. Art Sager passed away on September 22nd, 2007 exactly one month from his 91 birthday. The following picture of him was taken at the Y2-K Spitfire hangar at Comox, British Columbia, at the annual open house on May 20th, 2007. [Pat Murphy coll.]
My dad, Chris Preston (Spitfire pilot,RCAF Squadron 416), just saw this picture and related a story of Art being in a Jeep returning to Base one night and unknown to them the small bridge was out. They crashed into the opposite embankment and Art was injured. Another chap died in the crash.
Howdy,
Does your Dad have any pix you guys would like to share with the world? My site flyingforyourlife.com is my attempt to gather as much info and pix about Canadian fighter pilots and air gunners as i can. You dad might just need a page up there too !!
cheers,
Joe
My uncle died flying with the squadron, on May 28, 2942. Sgt. Donald George Allen, from Toronto. I wonder if your father knew him…
Although I realise that many maps at the time still showed Zuider Zee (or Zuiderzee in Dutch) it had actually become a freshwater lake called IJsselmeer (named after the River IJssel that feeds it) by then. The change occurred in 1932. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IJsselmeer
Ah, thanks for clarifying this. Always had a problem finding the Zuider Zee on the map 🙂