Spitfire carrying beer kegs?!?

[Darrell Zinck]

Hi

Loved the older Spitfire Ale Ads:

-Downed all over Kent, just like the Luftwaffe
-Not for Messrs Schmidt
-How to make a Sauerkraut. Mention the war

Just Google image search Spitfire Ale Ads.


In Spencer Dunmore's book Above and Beyond: The Canadians' War in the Air, 1939-45 (1996 McClelland and Stuart). It is related that in the "...days following the Normandy invasion..." Lloyd Berryman from 412 Sqn RCAF of 126 Wing was summoned by CO Keith Hodson to carry 90 gal "slipper tanks" full of beer to landing strip B-4 due to the thought the Germans had poisoned the water supply. Upon landing, under the gunfire of HMS Rodney, he and two other pilots were greeted by a Canadian soldier who dashed cautiously to Berryman's Spitfire.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?"

"Delivering Beer."

"The Jerries are sniping at us from there." (Church a 1/4 mile away)

The crackle of rifle fire confirmed the need "...to drop their tanks and clear out...at once."

regards
Darrell