WW2 Australian Spitfire Ace Flew With Dog, Scored 15 Victories

This Australian WW2 Spitfire pilot flew with a K9 copilot and scored 15 victories during the Battle of Britain!

[hurricanefury]

that dog is braver than most people i know
May he rest in peace and be remembered with honor

[rockymountainlifeprospecti]

Awesome story, sad ending, thank you for sharing Ken!

[typhoonhawker]

Flt.Lt.P.C.Hughes KIA on 7th Sep.1940 .His Spitfire Mk.I was serial number X4009.

[dewayneweaver]

Perhaps ol' Butch is still up there today defending the skys of Britain from German Sheppards.

[oscarmadison]

Thank you FO Hughes and FO Butch.
RIP 🇦🇺

[enigma]

So the dog may still be out there somewhere!?

[lmvirella]

So he made it... Hughes protected him till the end, held him in his arms, fell to his death and Butch survived. He lived to the ripe old age of 16, and would tell anyone who listened how he used to fly, no one believed him... he is survived by his 13 pups and 3 bitches.

[crowbaril]

My papi said he had many pilots surrender in flight! Mid air! Figure that one out!!!

[georgielancaster]

Probably fell to his death

I hope he was killed before the fall.

A number of pilots did it.

One officer flew with his spaniel, but his brand new wife banned the dog from his plane, (she suspected her husband would die, trying to get Michael safe), and Michael, the spaniel, lived at home with 'mum'

The very next flight, the officer was shot down and spent the war as a POW. It is unlikely that the Germans would have allowed the dog in the POW camp and by the end of the war, the prisoners may well have eaten Michael.

As it is, the officer came back to a middle aged, happy dog.

Listen to your wives!

Dogs left behind by men who never returned, sadly, were seldom adopted by other men. They were labelled, insanely, UNLUCKY.

Often the dogs ended up hanging around the closest villages, but very few people would take them on, or feed them, because of rationing. If they became a nuisance, they would be got rid of, though often, theywere run over.

Very sad time for animal lovers.

[RichardCabeza-lbrx]

Nit he wasn't British ( union jack is on jis flag POHM)!

[sah]

There is really no difference between British and Australian; they are of the same white Anglo stock. Like someone from Texas and Oklahoma 😮

[robertbolding]

I think I know what happened to his dog's body. It fell to the ground and was killed. Then another animal came along and ate it up.