Rusty LeitH AM DFC
Rusty LeitH AM DFC
An Australian Spitfire pilot’s wartime memorabilia and photos
No. 453 Squadron
1945-1990
In 1945 in East Anglia (from left) Rusty, Jack Stansfield and Norman Marsh pose for a photograph in front of a Mark XVI Spitfire.
Forty-five years later in 1990, Russell's son David took this picture of the same trio in front of a Mark XVI Spitfire that Rusty himself flew in the war. This plane was restored to flying condition and exhibited in New Zealand where this photo was taken.
The banner photo at the top of this website shows this aircraft in flight over the South Island of New Zealand in 1990, also photographed by David.
Spitfire scamble!
Squadron mate Jim Furlong (left) and Rusty are all smiles after combat action over Drem, Scotland in 1942 in which they were scrambled to intercept two German JU-88s.
Behind enemy lines
Rusty (right in the group photo) with two downed US airmen behind enemy lines in France in August 1944. Rusty had made a forced landing after destroying a Messerschmitt 109 fighter. Alfred Sutkowski (left), from Connecticut, was an air-gunner in a medium bomber which had crash landed. Stanley Canner (centre), from Boston, was a Mustang pilot who had baled out of his damaged plane.
The French Resistance sheltered all three. Behind them in the photo is the farmhouse owned by the Renoult family at Cernay, Normandy where they hid from Germans who were swarming through the area after the D-Day Invasion.
The Drem boys
No. 453 Squadron at Drem, Scotland in July 1942. Rusty is standing third from right.
The pilot to his right (with the sergeant's stripes sitting on the wing root) is DH “Spit" Steele who died in a flying accident a month after this photo was taken. He and Rusty were climbing to 30,000 feet to practise dives and steep turns with Rusty as No. 1 and Steele as No. 2. Steele simply disappeared. When he failed to answer radio calls Rusty flew back to Drem to report what had happened. Steele's aircraft was found next day half buried in soft ground in the Lammermuir Hills. He appeared to have dived straight in, perhaps having lost consciousness through oxygen starvation.
No. 453 Squadron DFC recipients
Three fighter pilots who earned the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) during service in 453 Squadron of the RAAF - (from left) Rusty,
Squadron Leader Ernie Esau and Flight Lieutenant Bob Clemesha at Lympne airfield in Kent in 1945.
Rubbing shoulders with Royalty
Rusty is pictured outside Buckingham Palace after his investiture by the King. With him (L-R) are UK friends Mrs Margery Dickson and Mrs Hooper and Mrs Gwen Cox. It was the custom of Australian fighter pilots to leave the top button of their tunic undone and Rusty obviously saw no reason to depart from it.
Passing time in the dispersal hut
Long periods of inactivity were almost as testing as aerial combat. Rusty passes the time at Hornchurch fighter station in late 1942 playing patience but he is ready to scramble at a moment's notice.
Spitfires in formation
Formation flying was an important part of fighter pilots' skills. It could be dangerous and mid-air collisions were always possible. How much safer and effective to practise on the ground using bicycles. This photo of 453 Squadron pilots was taken at Hornchurch airbase near London in October 1942.
After the ground practice, this is how it looked in the air, in this rare photo of 453 Squadron with three sections in formation.
Who were those "Wirraway" boys?
This insigia on a 453 Spitfire appears to refer to destruction of the squadron during the fall of Singapore. But why were they "Wirraway" boys when the squadron was actully flying Brewster Buffalo planes during that fateful campaign? Were the boys the six brave pilots who lost their lives in the skies of Malaya?
Number 453 Squadron had been formed in Sydney, Australia in July 1941 to combat the Japanese threat in Malaya. It arrived in Singapore the following month after training on Wirraway aircraft but with no air combat experience. There, they converted to American Brewster Buffalo fighters which were obsolete and no match for the Japanese Zero. The squadron was mauled dreadfully. After hopelessly one-sided air battles, the squadron returned to Australia where, in March 1942, it was disbanded.
Three months later, 453 was re-formed at Drem, Scotland, this time with superb Supermarine Spitfire Mark V fighter aircraft.
Dogfight over the Atlantic
Rusty Leith was posted with his squadron to Perranporth in Cornwall, for the second half of 1943. The airbase was located on high cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. This photo is from the personal photo album of fellow pilot Russ Ewins and shows 453 planes at the maintenance hangar.
On 8 October, Rusty was in a detachment of seven Spitfires which engaged a flight of German Me110 fighters In a furious dogfight well offshore. The Spitfires brought down six of the Me110s of which Rusty accounted for two. One of the Australians was killed in the engagement and Russ Ewens himself bailed out but was successfully rescued from the water.
The squadron cartoonist Joe Ashley produced a commemorative lampoon of the event, with the key players receiving a ribbing. Rusty's comment says: "First to land was P/O Leith who claimed 1 destroyed, but when he discovered his a/c had no camera he smartly made it 2!!!"
Ewens contribution to the day was: "And all the while F/Lt Ewens was on a half day cruising in his dinghy with half the navy looking for him." The squadron commanding officer Don Andrews is in a rage because his guns didn't function – a character wryly declaring that the aircraft's daily inspection (DI) is due.
