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Old 17th Aug 2019, 11:23
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LOMCEVAK
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: UK
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Uncannily, I had stumbled across the YouTube video only hours before this thread was started. One person who was in the video but I don't think has been mentioned on this thread yet was Douglas's wife, Joan. She passed away less than 4 years ago at the ripe old age of 97. In 1988 I had the great privilege of flying Joan in Charles Church's two-seat Spitfire. She was very excited to finally be able to fly in a Spitfire and made some comments skywards to let Douglas know! There are some days and sorties that you never forget (and I also flew Jeffrey Quill in the same aircraft that day but that is another story!).

In 1976 I went to a Spitfire symposium in Southampton, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its first flight, and one event was a discussion about the Spitfire on stage in a theatre between Douglas, Adolf Galland and Johnnie Johnson. It was fascinating to listen to, informative and amusing. Joan did say to me that Adolf used to stay with them occasionally and that the conversation was lively!

Happy memories.
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