The adrenaline of combat had been coursing through Hugh Dundas since his days over Dunkirk, in the Battle of Britain, on Rhubarbs over France, in North Africa, Sicily and now Italy. He had had an incredible wartime career and it was starting to take its toll. He was now a Group Captain in charge of the Spitfire Mark IXs of 244 Wing in Italy – at the age of twenty-three, the youngest ever in the RAF to hold the rank equivalent to an army full colonel. Whether it was his youth or sense of responsibility, Dundas still insisted on leading from the front.
