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EDWARD CHRISTOPHER Deansley

Name : EDWARD CHRISTOPHER Deansley Born : 27th January 1910 Died : 19th February 1998 Service Number : 90251 Awards : Distinguished Flying Cross

He joined 605 Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force in early 1937 and was commissioned on 18th March. Called up on 24th August 1939, Deanesly was posted to 152 Squadron and was shot down His Spitfire had been damaged by return fire from a Ju87, which punctured his glycol tank. He ditched in the Channel south of Portland, was picked up by the SS Empire Henchman, landed at Lyme Regis and admitted to hospital, wounded.. On the 26th of September 1940 he was shot down and wounded again off Swanage, he baled out of his stricken Spitfire I (K9982) after combat. crashed into the Channel. After a spell in hospital, Deanesly became a Fighter Controller. On 23rd November 1940 256 Squadron was reformed at Catterick with Defiants as a night-fighter unit and Deanesly joined it as a Flight Commander. Over the Birmingham area during the night of 10th/11th April 1941 Deanesly, with Sgt. WJ Scott s his gunner, destroyed a He111, on 3rd/4th May they shot down a Ju88 over Merseyside and also a Do17 which crashed in North Wales. On 7th/8th May they destroyed a He111 bomber over manchester. Deanesly took command of 256 Squadron in September 1941 and led it until April 1942. He commanded RAF Castle Camps until October, being then posted to West Africa where he was involved with maintaining the aircraft ferry route from Takoradi to Egypt. After commanding 298 Wing in the Middle East from January to August 1943, Deanesly took over 114 Wing until March 1944 when he was posted back to the UK. He became CFI at 107 OTU, Leicester East, training pilots on Dakotas for paratroop and glider-towing operations. Deanesly took command of 575 Squadron, equipped with Dakotas, in December 1944. He took part in the Rhine crossings in March 1945, towing a glider.

Known Service Details :
Squadron	Rank	Start of Service	End of Service	Known Dates	Aircraft	Airframes	Notes
No.152 Sqn RAF	Flight Lieutenant	unknown	unknown	26th September 1940	Spitfire	K9901
No.256 Sqn RAF	Flight Commander	23rd November 1940	April 1942	10th April 1940	Defiant		10th/11th April 1941 Deanesly, with Sgt. WJ Scott s his gunner, destroyed a He111

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Aircraft for : EDWARD CHRISTOPHER Deansley
A list of all aircraft associated with EDWARD CHRISTOPHER Deansley. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name.
Aircraft	Info
Defiant Click the name above to see prints featuring Defiant aircraft. Manufacturer : Boulton Paul Production Began : 1939 Number Built : 1075	Defiant BOULTON PAUL DEFIANT Built as a fighter, with a crew of two. Maximum speed of 304 mph, and a ceiling of 30,350 feet. armament on the defiant was four .303 browing machine guns in the Boulton Paul Turret. Designed as a intercepter fighter, the Defiant first flew in August 1937. and entered service with the Royal Air Force in October 1939 with no 264 squadron. and first flew in operations in march 1940 the Boulton Paul Defiant was certainly no match for the German Fighters, due to their lack of fire power as the defiant had no wing mounted machine guns. Heavy losses. The aircraft was re deployed as a night -Fighter in the autumn of 1940. This role also being taken over by Bristol Beaufighters in 1941, leaving the defiant for training, target tug, and air-sea rescue roles. A Total of 1075 Boulton Paul Defiant's were built
Spitfire Click the name above to see prints featuring Spitfire aircraft. Manufacturer : Supermarine Production Began : 1936 Retired : 1948 Number Built : 20351	Spitfire Royal Air Force fighter aircraft, maximum speed for mark I Supermarine Spitfire, 362mph up to The Seafire 47 with a top speed of 452mph. maximum ceiling for Mk I 34,000feet up to 44,500 for the mark XIV. Maximum range for MK I 575 miles . up to 1475 miles for the Seafire 47. Armament for the various Marks of Spitfire. for MK I, and II . eight fixed .303 browning Machine guns, for MKs V-IX and XVI two 20mm Hispano cannons and four .303 browning machine guns. and on later Marks, six to eight Rockets under the wings or a maximum bomb load of 1,000 lbs. Designed by R J Mitchell, The proto type Spitfire first flew on the 5th March 1936. and entered service with the Royal Air Force in August 1938, with 19 squadron based and RAF Duxford. by the outbreak of World war two, there were twelve squadrons with a total of 187 spitfires, with another 83 in store. Between 1939 and 1945, a large variety of modifications and developments produced a variety of MK,s from I to XVI. The mark II came into service in late 1940, and in March 1941, the Mk,V came into service. To counter the Improvements in fighters of the Luftwaffe especially the FW190, the MK,XII was introduced with its Griffin engine. The Fleet Air Arm used the Mk,I and II and were named Seafires. By the end of production in 1948 a total of 20,351 spitfires had been made and 2408 Seafires. The most produced variant was the Spitfire Mark V, with a total of 6479 spitfires produced. The Royal Air Force kept Spitfires in front line use until April 1954.

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