SPITFIRE SPY - over China

Unauthorized, high-risk photo-recon missions

- CLIVE ROWLEY

Ted Powles 

In 1951-52, Flt. Lt. Ted Powles commanded a small detachment of photo-reconnaissance Spitfire PR Mk XIXs of 81 Squadron at RAF Kai Tak, Hong Kong. During this period, while the Korean War was being fought, he flew 107 secret and unauthorized photo-reconnaissance missions over Chinese territory.

Because of the nature of the work, the entries for these flights were recorded only as “Photo Recce” in the duty column of his logbook, with no details of where he flew and with just the flight time. Powles was never ordered to fly these missions, only requested, and it was left to him when and how he did. If he saw aircraft apparently trying to intercept him, he turned away and climbed, sometimes to above 42,000 feet, returning later to finish the job. He usually took high-level vertical photographs from 30,000 but sometimes at 36,000 feet.

On some missions, he flew his Spitfire to the absolute limit of range and endurance. On two sorties he had to make dead-stick landings at Kai Tak having run out of fuel, and on two other occasions he had insufficient fuel to taxi back to the flight line after landing.