Apr 21, 2015 11:28 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Spenc...F_officer)
EXCERPT: [...] Between 23 June and 28 August 1944, he [Terence Spencer] claimed seven V-1 flying bombs destroyed, but an eighth is also recorded in his logbook that did not make it to the official records. One of these he succeeded in destroying by tipping it up with the wing of his aircraft, an event sketched into his logbook by fellow pilot and amateur artist, Flt Lt Tom Slack, who titled the drawing “Tip ‘em Up Terry”.
[...] In early September 1944, Spencer led a section of four pilots on an armed reconnaissance over Belgium where they encountered two of the Luftwaffe’s highest-scoring Aces, Hptm Emil ‘Bully’ Lang, the Commanding Officer of II/JG26 (173 victories) and Lt Alfred Gross (52 victories), in FW190s over Tirlemont. Although one of his section was killed, the two Aces were shot down, Lang killed and Gross so seriously wounded that he did not return to service before the end of the War.
[...] On 26 February 1945, he [Spencer] was hit by flak in the Rheine-Lingen area of Germany and captured. Just over a month later, when the camp's main gate was left open, he escaped by bicycle, and subsequently motorcycle, with another ex-41 Squadron pilot, Sqn Ldr K. F. ‘Jimmy’ Thiele, in a Steve-McQueen-style getaway, in which the pair made it back to Allied lines.
[...Spencer...] was shot down once again, this time by rocket fire while strafing a trawler in Wismar Bay. He succeeded in baling out and deploying his parachute at a height of just 30 feet (9.1 m), which he miraculously survived, only to be captured again. The successful jump has since been credited by the Guinness Book of Records as having been the lowest authenticated survived bail-out on record....
http://en.ww2awards.com/person/42431
EXCERPT: [...] After the war, he [Spencer] flew a single-engine aeroplane 8,000 miles to South Africa, where he reportedly became involved in diamond smuggling before turning to a career in photography. He married London actress Lesley Brook, and they and set up an aerial photography business outside Johannesburg. In 1952, Spencer joined Life magazine as a photojournalist. He worked for the magazine for the next 20 years, reporting on stories and conflict in Africa and the Middle East, the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also became involved in CIA covert activities. Spencer he returned to England to cover the Beatles and the 60s cults and fashions, and in 1972 started to freelance for The New York Times, People and other US publications....
EXCERPT: [...] Between 23 June and 28 August 1944, he [Terence Spencer] claimed seven V-1 flying bombs destroyed, but an eighth is also recorded in his logbook that did not make it to the official records. One of these he succeeded in destroying by tipping it up with the wing of his aircraft, an event sketched into his logbook by fellow pilot and amateur artist, Flt Lt Tom Slack, who titled the drawing “Tip ‘em Up Terry”.
[...] In early September 1944, Spencer led a section of four pilots on an armed reconnaissance over Belgium where they encountered two of the Luftwaffe’s highest-scoring Aces, Hptm Emil ‘Bully’ Lang, the Commanding Officer of II/JG26 (173 victories) and Lt Alfred Gross (52 victories), in FW190s over Tirlemont. Although one of his section was killed, the two Aces were shot down, Lang killed and Gross so seriously wounded that he did not return to service before the end of the War.
[...] On 26 February 1945, he [Spencer] was hit by flak in the Rheine-Lingen area of Germany and captured. Just over a month later, when the camp's main gate was left open, he escaped by bicycle, and subsequently motorcycle, with another ex-41 Squadron pilot, Sqn Ldr K. F. ‘Jimmy’ Thiele, in a Steve-McQueen-style getaway, in which the pair made it back to Allied lines.
[...Spencer...] was shot down once again, this time by rocket fire while strafing a trawler in Wismar Bay. He succeeded in baling out and deploying his parachute at a height of just 30 feet (9.1 m), which he miraculously survived, only to be captured again. The successful jump has since been credited by the Guinness Book of Records as having been the lowest authenticated survived bail-out on record....
http://en.ww2awards.com/person/42431
EXCERPT: [...] After the war, he [Spencer] flew a single-engine aeroplane 8,000 miles to South Africa, where he reportedly became involved in diamond smuggling before turning to a career in photography. He married London actress Lesley Brook, and they and set up an aerial photography business outside Johannesburg. In 1952, Spencer joined Life magazine as a photojournalist. He worked for the magazine for the next 20 years, reporting on stories and conflict in Africa and the Middle East, the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also became involved in CIA covert activities. Spencer he returned to England to cover the Beatles and the 60s cults and fashions, and in 1972 started to freelance for The New York Times, People and other US publications....