Rusty LeitH AM DFC
Rusty LeitH AM DFC
An Australian Spitfire Pilot’s wartime memorabilia and photos.
How Rusty gatecrashed Winston Churchill's warship
On a Sunday afternoon in July 1944 in Normandy, Rusty and four other pilots from 453 squadron decided to go down to the new invasion harbour to have a look around. What caught their attention was a Jeep with Winston Churchill in the front seat. They watched as Churchill boarded a small launch and disappeared off down the harbour.
Later, the five wrangled an invitation onto the British cruiser HMS Enterprise. It was an untidy band of RAAF officers that walked into an immaculate wardroom with all the RN officers in dress clothes. "We were in battle dress, open shirts, scarves and muddy flying boots, Rusty recalled."We discovered that Churchill was on board. Although he had been in the wardroom the previous night he didn’t appear on the night of our visit. We were told that he had stood on a wardroom table and sung Rule Britannia, challenging the officers to sing the second verse with him."During their stay on board they all signed a French banknote, including an Australian officer serving on the Enterprise, Peter Taylor.
At the end of the visit, the group boarded a launch amidst much hilarity about 10pm and, as a farewell, fired an 18-shot salute with their .38 calibre Smith and Wesson service revolvers.
"Some one dashed out saying the Prime Minister wanted to know what all the noise was about, so we beat a hasty retreat at about twenty-five knots."
The incident of the Aussie pilots gatecrashing Churchill's ship appeared in The Sun newspaper back in Sydney, Australia.
Seventy-five years later, that very banknote resurfaced. An email arrived in Rusty's son David's inbox to say the note had been discovered in the belongings of Peter Taylor after his death. The note is now part of a private military memorabilia collection in Western Australia.
Rusty's signature "CR Leith RAAF 453 SqDN" can be seen in the circle on the left side of the note. At the bottom is Peter Taylor's inscription "Guests of Peter Taylor (Lieut RANVR) HMS Enterprise 23-7-44".
Beside Rusty's signature is that of fellow pilot Kenny Kinross. He was killed in action the next day. In a shocking case of "friendly fire", Kinross was shot down by a US fighter pilot in full of Rusty.
Peter Taylor's surviving collection also includes this newspaper story of the event written from his perspective, and a photo of Churchill disembarking from the ship.
