Nine-victory Spitfire ace Arthur Allan 'Pinky' Glen flew with 41 Squadron in 1941 before commanding the unit in 1944. He claimed his final two victories flying the Supermarine Spitfire XII when he destroyed a pair of Fw 190s over Northern France on 24 Sep 1943, earning the bar to his D.F.C.
Nine-victory Spitfire ace Arthur Allan 'Pinky' Glen flew with 41 Squadron in 1941 before commanding the unit in 1944. He claimed his final two victories flying the Supermarine Spitfire XII when he destroyed a pair of Fw 190s over Northern France on 24 Sep 1943, earning the bar to his D.F.C.
41 Squadron recorded the events of the day as follows:
'We are kept busy now, much to the delight of the pilots. This time the wing led by W/C Harries were acting as escort to 72 Marauders again to Beauvais. On reaching the rendezvous the bombers were found to be 10 miles ahead, but we caught them up crossing the French coast S.W. of Le Treport.'
'We were flying at 16,000 feet and on the left of the bombers. Two miles from the target heavy flak was experienced and one Marauder went down pouring black smoke. The target was reached and the wing turned 90 degrees to Starboard across the bombers, and in this turn 10 FW. 190's dived past 41 and 91 streaking for the bombers 3,000 feet below. F/Lt A.A. Glen D.F.C. led 41 into a turn behind them causing the enemy aircraft to pull away to the right, and the attack on the bombers was foiled. Spitfires V, IX and XII closed in from every direction, and a most glorious dog fight ensued, during which the wing destroyed 5 FW. 190s with 2 probables and 1 damaged.
Flying MB801, F/L Glen shot down two Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters during one operation on 24 September 1943. This is an excerpt from a report by Flight Lt. A. A. Glen himself following the incident:
'My R/T was u/s and I heard no warnings of any E/A about, but when approaching target at about 15,000 ft - I saw about 10 F.W. 190's diving on my port side towards the bombers. I broke left and came in behind them and they pulled steeply to the right. Two of the E/A were lagging slightly and I took a quick squirt at the leader from about 300 yds and 45° deflection using cannon and m/g. I saw a large flash in the cockpit and he flicked over and collided with the E/A following him.'
In January 1944, he took command of the Squadron. His record of 9 Victories, 4 shared and 2 probable putting him into the Top 100 of deadliest British Aces of WWII. He died in December 1979.
