Wing Comm. Colin Colquhoun AFC, DFC, MBE

"Wing Commander Colin Colquhoun, who has died aged 93, flew Spitfires during the Italian campaign and his leadership and courage earned him the DFC; he later excelled as a formation and aerobatic pilot.

In June 1944 Colquhoun joined No 111 Squadron, based at an airfield near Rome. The British Eighth Army was advancing north and the squadron’s Spitfires attacked motor transports and the enemy’s lines of communication in support of the ground forces.

In July the squadron left for Corsica and on August 16, the day after Allied troops landed in the south of France for Operation Dragoon, Colquhoun and his colleagues flew into Ramatuelle airfield near St Tropez.

From various bases in the area, Colquhoun flew ground-attack sorties ahead of the advancing troops. By the end of September the campaign was over and the squadron returned to Italy. Bomb racks were fitted to the Spitfires and Colquhoun led attacks against road and rail targets. During the spring offensive of 1945, ground-attack sorties increased as the land forces mounted a major offensive over the River Po.

At the end of the campaign, Colquhoun was awarded the DFC for “the outstanding part he played in operations over north Italy”. The citation mentioned “his daring leadership” and concluded: “The excellent results achieved have been due largely to his fine fighting spirit, cool courage and devotion to duty.”

Colin Ian Colquhoun was born at Felling-on-Tyne on August 25 1923 and educated at Berwick Grammar School. He enlisted in the RAF Volunteer Reserve in February 1942 and trained as a pilot in South Africa under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/10/06/wing-commander-colin-colquhoun-courageous-spitfire-pilot---obitu/