Talk:Tom Neil

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Military history: Aviation / Biography / British / European / World War II

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Is this the same guy?

Back in the Second World War, Wing Commander Tom Neil acquired a Supermarine Spitfire after finding it seemingly abandoned near the USAAF unit he was attached to. After having the aircraft’s entire paint scheme stripped off, including its serial number, Neil spent the last year of the war treating the fighter like his personal property instead of equipment issued to the RAF, gallivanting all over the skies of Europe at will.

Once more and more people started asking where exactly the Spitfire had come from, Wg Cdr Neil pondered increasingly desperate measures to permanently rid himself of it, including baling out over the English Channel and leaving the fighter to crash itself into the sea. During this period he was also aware that an air commodore had been court-martialled and stripped of his rank for “acquiring” an obsolete Gloster Gladiator biplane under similar circumstances. The full tale of Neil’s Silver Spitfire, including how aviation historians deduced its true identity and eventual fate, is related in his book of the same name. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.13.48.68 (talk) 18:20, 29 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The Tom Neil of THIS ARTICLE is the same person the questioner describes above. See Neil's publication list in the article. -- SGBailey (talk) 08:11, 20 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]