My father flew spitfire Mk 9 MJ 627
His proud son 🙂🙂🙂

Squadron Leader Keith Thiele, who has died aged 94, was decorated four times as a bomber and a fighter pilot and was one of only four New Zealand-born airmen to earn three DFCs; he also won a DSO.
His career as a bomber pilot began in October 1941 when he flew Wellingtons with No 405 Squadron. Returning from a raid on Cherbourg in January 1942 he had to make a crash-landing in his damaged aircraft.
After converting to the four-engine Halifax, Theile flew on the first “Thousand Bomber” raid to Cologne and the second to Essen a few days later. His Halifax came under heavy attack but he successfully weaved his way through the searchlights and anti-aircraft fire.
After completing 32 operations, 11 on the Halifax, Thiele was rested and awarded the first of his DFCs. His obvious leadership qualities were soon recognised and he was promoted directly from flying officer to squadron leader. Instead of completing the customary six-months rest, he volunteered to return to operations after just two months when he was posted to No 467 Squadron to fly Lancasters.
En route to attack Berlin he pressed on to the target despite two of his crew having to attend to a sick colleague. On another occasion he returned from a target at low level to allow his gunners to engage the enemy’s searchlights and anti-aircraft defences. In March 1943 he attacked Nuremburg.
An engine caught fire on the outward journey but he continued to the target. A month later he attacked Stuttgart when his Lancaster was badly damaged and he had to make a forced landing on two engines and one main wheel at an airfield on the south coast. He was awarded the DSO for his “outstanding courage”.
Thiele (second from left) and his fellow commanders of No 122 Wing in Holland
On his 56th operation he attacked Duisburg on the night of May 12 1943. As he approached the target his Lancaster was hit by flak but he pressed on and held the bomber steady. Over the target, the aircraft was hit again, completely destroying an engine.
He had just stabilised the aircraft when another shell disabled a second engine, damaged the cockpit and wounded Thiele and another crew member. He regained control and headed for England steadily losing height. He made a crash landing at an airfield in Norfolk without injury to his crew, an action which resulted in the award of an immediate Bar to his DFC. The citation highlighted his “exceptional valour and skill”.
At the end of his tour, he was offered command of No 617 Squadron to replace Guy Gibson but Thiele, the thrice-decorated 22-year-old squadron leader, turned down the opportunity because he was determined to fly fighters.
Keith Frederick Thiele was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on February 21 1921 and educated at Christchurch High School for Boys. After a brief spell as a reporter on the Christchurch Star-Sun he joined the RNZAF to train as a pilot. In June 1941 he travelled to Britain to complete his training as a bomber pilot.
For a period after completing his tour with No 467 Squadron, he ferried Canadian-built bombers across the Atlantic. In February 1944 he achieved his ambition to be a fighter pilot when he converted to Spitfires, then joined No 41 Squadron based in w England.
Over the next six months he flew 100 operations escorting light bombers and on cross-Channel sweeps to attack ground targets including operations on D-Day. As the V-1 flying bomb campaign opened, he flew “anti-Diver” patrols over Kent and shot down one of the terror weapons.
In October he converted to the Typhoon and completed another 50 operations with No 486 Squadron attacking enemy transports in Holland and Germany. During ground strafing operations, he destroyed two Luftwaffe transport aircraft, damaged 14 locomotives, numerous barges and motor transports. He was also successful in the air and in December shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 over Malmedy and on December 29 he shot down another over Munster when the enemy pilot baled out.
Keith Thiele  Photo: RNZAF Museum
In early January 1945 he was given command of No 3 Squadron flying the RAF’s most powerful piston-engine fighter, the Tempest. He continued to attack ground targets but on February 10 during an armed-reconnaissance sortie he was hit by ground fire over Paderborn and was forced to bale out.
Slightly wounded, he was taken prisoner and received some rough treatment, but he was only held captive for a few weeks before escaping from a transit PoW camp near Frankfurt. On March 31, he and a colleague slipped away on bicycles and later “acquired” a motorcycle.
They crossed the Rhine on the bridge at Remagen before reaching US ground forces. He returned to his squadron but was not medically fit for further operational service. A few weeks later, he was awarded a Second Bar to his DFC, one of only 50 awarded during the Second World War.
Thiele returned to New Zealand and, after a brief spell as a journalist, he began a long career as an airline pilot. He then moved to Australia and became a senior captain with Qantas.
An avid adventurer, Thiele twice had his tiny yacht Spitfire smashed by mountainous waves during sailing excursions on the notorious Tasman Sea, yet managed to sail home.
He later built and operated a marina in Sydney and, aged 80, sailed his own yacht across the Tasman Sea to see New Zealand’s first America’s Cup defence. Keith Thiele is survived by his daughter. Squadron Leader Keith Thiele, born February 21 1921 died on January 5 2016

Apart from his job in the air ministry, my grandfather used to wander the London underground in the late evenings & early mornings, where thousands sheltered from the incessant air raids. He collected to raise money to pay for a spitfire.
Eventually there was enough to present a cheque to Winston Churchill in person. I still have the picture somewhere.
I am saving to buy a Stanley knife, with which to disable one of the rubber boats currently invading our 'Green & Pleasant land'.
Once the funds are available I will try to present the cheque to our current PM.
I am fairly sure the irony of it will be wasted on him.

Fascinating history! The engine upgrade completely transformed the Spitfire into an even more impressive aircraft.

3:55 Fascinating history! The engine upgrade completely transformed the Spitfire into an even more impressive aircraft.

Lovely (and ironic) to see a (German) DB 601 engine blueprint sliding right, across the screen, from 5:00 in this interesting storyline.

Informative narrative with a great deal of unrelated/confusing/distracting visuals throughout.

I was fascinated by Spitfires before the age of five when my uncle made a model Spitfire. I just loved the shape, the "look." That interest remains. I'm 73 now! I've accumulated quite a book collection. It's a great joy to discover presentations like this one on the internet. Thanks for this -  very well researched and tallys well with other material.

One readily apparent measure of the ever-increasing power is the propeller- from the two-blade Schnieder Cup racers to the twin three-blade counter-rotating props.

The tanks on the Spit @43:44 are filled with best bitter beer, not fuel. It’s a clapped airframe not rated fit for combat that was used by Johnnie Johnson’s squadron as a hack to bring a few home comforts over to their French base following D Day.
It’s illustrated in his autobiography.

I admire anyone making an effort to provide videos like this one.  This especially so given the ill-tempered, armchair critics hereabouts who contribute nothing but idle spite.

A great audio documentary about important aeronautical and tactical developmenta around the Spitfire and Merlin/Griffon egines - almost ruined by too many irrelevant and distracting images - not to mention the sub titles with more holes than a swiss cheese plant (does nobody check them?)... But all things considered, glad to have heard the video!

Kept expecting a pic of Stan Boardman to pop up whenever Focke Wolfes were mentioned

Lord Beaverbrook knew what he was about. Two weeks after he got the power to direct production without explaining himself,  they raised delivery of aircraft by 10%. Two months later, they almost  had it doubled. Because he had his priorities correct, they built more  fighters than the nazis could  destroy.

By the time the long0nosed FW was introduced, the Luftwaffe had supplemented the 870octane B4 with 100-octane C3 fuel.

47:57 “An engine gave a 23-year-old hairdresser from Le Havre 30 extra miles an hour at 2,000 ft.” That detail really captures the heart of this story for me: engineering mattered not because it made anyone invincible, but because it created just enough margin for courage and skill to make a difference. Maridor’s final choice makes that extra performance feel deeply human rather than merely technical. Which moment in this story changed how you think about the Spitfire most?

Thank you for your video
I enjoyed watching it

31:20 — “What it bought was margin: the few hundred yards, the few seconds, the few miles an hour that decide whether an ordinary man gets the chance to make an extraordinary choice.” I really appreciate how this story shows that engineering progress is not about creating an “invincible” machine, but giving pilots just enough advantage to make better choices and save lives. Which mattered more in your view: the Griffon engine’s raw performance, better fuel, or the RAF’s willingness to honestly identify and fix weaknesses?

Jimmy was my great uncle I was 8-9 when I met Jimmy is sister was my grandma I had the opportunity to were his Lonsdale belt  it fitted perfectly both sister anny Eliza and Maria wild none of my family even new of the relationship he was in his 50s his war medals and doxing trophy’s vanished over the years

These are so good!  You need to default your AI to read "read" as the imperative, pronounced, "reed", not " red", as if in the past tense. It will be right much more often than wrong.