F/L Albert H 'Witt' Wittridge DFC 1922-2009

World War Two RAF Spitfire fighter pilot, Flight Lieutenant Albert Wittridge, DFC, flew two tours of operations with 155 Squadron in Burma, and was subsequently and RAF and civilian instructor and test pilot.

He joined 155 Squadron, flying Mark 8 Spitfires. He shot down high flying Dinah reconnaissance aircraft similar to the RAF’s Mosquito, and also a Jap Oscar fighter, which outclassed RAF Hurricanes.

Albert Wittridge, always known as ‘Witt’, ended his tour of operations as an instructor with the flying assessment of ‘Exceptional’. Based at Boscombe Down he became an experimental test pilot until leaving the RAF in 1953 where he continued as a civil test pilot, being at the forefront of many fascinating experimental developments, flying and testing over 30 different types of aircraft including Meteor jet fighters and V-bombers. Despite having flown so many different and more advanced aircraft, he rates his Mark 8 Spitfire DG-C above all the others.