Luftwaffe Ace Salutes and Spares Injured Spitfire

One of the most incredible stories of World War II isn’t about a battle won or a mission completed- it’s about an act of humanity amidst chaos. A German Messerschmitt Bf 109, instead of finishing off a crippled RAF Spitfire, did something no one could have expected: it allowed the wounded fighter to turn back and make it home.

On October 10, 1942, at an altitude of 36,000 ft. Wing Commander John Hamilton at 601 squadron was patrolling the skies with his Supermarine Spitfire when a pair of Bf 109s appeared in the clouds. They immediately spotted Hamilton’s plane and started to tail him. However, the visibility was poor. Hamilton, an ace pilot, began performing evasive maneuvers, sweeping in and out of the clouds as the Bf 109s attempted to keep up with him. However, the Spitfire was far superior when it came to turns.

Realizing that the Spitfire was too hard to keep up with, both the 109s split up to boost their chances of shooting down Hamilton. Several minutes went by, and Hamilton realized that he could no longer see the 109s behind him. Another advantage the Spitfire had was that it could easily outclimb German planes. With this in mind, Hamilton starts to steep climb so that he could gain an altitude advantage over the two German planes.

However, when starting his climb, he heard a few loud bangs moments before he lost consciousness. The skilled 109 pilots had managed to keep up with him during the climb, shooting three rounds into his Spitfire. One exploded on his back while the other two shells damaged the wing and the fuselage.

The Spitfire, at this point, had been crippled. The control cables had been severed, and his plane was left in a steep climb. Without any control from Hamilton, the Spitfire stalls out and starts to spin out of control into a steep dive. The Germans knew that they had successfully taken down the Spitfire, following it down the dive, ensuring that it was going down. However, at 2,000 ft. right before the 109s take the finishing blow, Hamilton gains consciousness and flies to control his plane. Incredibly, he brings his out-of-control Spitfire to level flight and notices the German fighters on his tail. Hamilton knew what was coming for him as he prepared for the end. He closed his eyes, waiting for the final shot, but it never came.

When he opened his eyes, the two Bf-109s were now flying one on each side of his crippled Spitfire. The German pilots stared at Hamilton in amazement. They couldn’t believe that the young man, after being shot down at 36,000 ft. had managed to recover his plane seconds before crashing on the ground.

Amazingly, the two German pilots escorted him for several minutes back towards his airfield, and moments before peeling off, saluted the British pilot as he saluted back. Hamilton managed to limp home his Spitfire.

Right before his career as a pilot ended, he remembered what happened to him and claimed the Junkers 190 by forcing it to land instead of shooting it down. Hamilton went to live a peaceful life in South Wales, passing away just recently in 2017 at the age of 100. He would often confess that he owed his life to the two German pilots who allowed him to escape instead of shooting down his plane.