Battle of Britain Spitfire Ace

At 11.20 hours on the morning of Friday, 1 November 1940, nine Spitfires from 74 Squadron, the famous ‘Tiger Squadron’, were scrambled from Biggin to carry out an interception patrol I the Dover area. One of the pilots, at the Spitfire Mk.IIa P7312, was the Canadian Flying Officer William Henry Nelson DFC. At around midday, the Tigers encountered a formation of enemy aircraft – Messerschmitt Bf 109s. In the ensuing dogfights, two of the Spitfire pilots were wounded. But for ‘Willie’ Nelson, it w