sent to the Boeing plant at Seattle in
Washington state. Here he picked up
a Flying Fortress on May 5, landing
it in Scotland ten days later. By the
start of June he was back in Canada
learning to fly Consolidated Liberators
at Montreal’s Dorval airport.
His next crossing of the Atlantic was
in a Liberator on June 19, this time
as co-pilot. One of the passengers was
John G Winant, the US Ambassador
to the UK, who was returning after
a visit to the States. On the 27th,
Ring flew the same aircraft back to
Canada with 11 ferry pilots on board
as passengers.
His last flight across the Atlantic
took place on July 12, when he ferried
over a Lockheed Hudson. His next
posting was to 1 (Coastal) Operational
Training Unit at Silloth, Cumberland,
where he became officer commanding
‘D’ Flight of ‘B’ Squadron, training
Hudson crews.
Ring remained at Silloth for six
months and was promoted to
temporary squadron leader on
December 1. He was informed that he
would be returning to 1 PRU.DEEPER AND DEEPER
Since Ring’s departure from 1 PRU,
the invasion threat had receded and
the unit was keeping a close watch
on enemy activity across occupied
Europe and within Germany.
Sorties regularly penetrated deeper
and deeper into hostile airspace to
cover new targets.
Ring arrived at 1 PRU’s new baseat Benson, Oxfordshire, on January
28, 1942 and assumed command
of ‘B’ Squadron, which controlled
three flights. He made the first ‘op’
of his second tour on February 10,
when he flew Spitfire PR.VII AR245
on a low-level sortie to Fécamp. Due
to poor visibility he was unable to
photograph, but took obliques of Le
Tréport and Dieppe.
At the end of April, Ring
was promoted to acting wing
commander and was given
command of 1 PRU. At the
time, the unit consisted of nine
operational and two training flights
spread over eight locations. The
running of such a large organisation
meant Ring had little opportunity
to fly, managing only four sorties
in the next six months. Most of his
time was taken up with conferences,
meetings and visits to detachments
as well as regularly standing in as the
station commander at Benson.
The unit needed re-organising
and five new squadrons – 540, 541,
542, 543 and 544 – were formed
while 1 PRU disbanded on October- Benson remained the ‘parent’
for the new squadrons and Ring
became Wing Commander (Air)
responsible for all operations. The
Station Commander at Benson, Gp
Capt John Bussey, was ultimately in
command.
As photo-reconnaissance became
ever more important in obtaining
information on German activities,
further expansion was called
for. Under the command of Air
Commodore John Boothman, 106
(PR) Wing was formed at Benson on
July 3, 1943 with Ring remaining as
Wing Commander (Air).
Coinciding with this was the steady
build-up of American PR assets in
support of the bombers of the US
Eighth Air Force. Since February,
USAAF elements had been based at
the nearby satellite airfield at Mount
Farm, Oxfordshire and a close liaison
developed, with Ring building a good
working relationship with Lt Col
James Hall, the American CO. For
his work with the Americans, Ring
was awarded the US Air Medal in
October.
With Allied attention increasingly
turning to the invasion of northwest
Europe, the conferences and meetings
continued discussing operational
requirements, technical issues and
overall PR policy. Despite this, Ring
was able to fly a sortie on February
4, 1944 in Mosquito IX LR422
to photograph Heligoland and
Cuxhaven. This proved to be his last
‘op’ of the war.
Ring joined British photo-
reconnaissance when it was nothing
more than an experiment. He flew
during its vital formative era and went
on to command the primary means
of gathering intelligence on German
activities on the Continent. During
his time with PDU and PRU, Spencer
Ring helped to perfect a vital resource
in planning for the return of Allied
forces to mainland Europe.Below
Wg Cdr Ring exiting
Fw 190 PM679 after a
30-minute evaluation
fl ight. Originally
belonging to I/SKG 10,
it landed in error at
Manston, Kent, on May 20,
- M RING
74 FLYPAST May 2018
WORLD WAR TWO PHOTO RECONNAISSANCE