Then he heard the sound of gunfire again. Much closer this time. He turned round and saw his wingman, Joseph Byrd from Texas, plummeting towards the ground, trailing smoke. Jesus, where did that come from? He looked again. The ‘Corsairs’ were in fact a flight of French Dewoitine 520 fighters and they were looking for easy Spitfire kills. The Vichy French clearly did not look upon the Americans and British as allies.
