Cub Driver wrote in message . ..
Does anyone know how many kills she/he
had during the war?

If Cowell existed, she evidently wasn't credited with as many as five,
since no such person is listed in Aces High.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com


Robert Cowell's medical history would have seemed to disqualify him
from flying; however, he did enlist in Jan 1940 in the R.A.S.C. after
turning down a mechanical engineer (he was a car racer previously)
position with Ordnance. He was sent to Aldershot. In Jan 1941 Cowell
was posted to a unit in Cambridgeshire with the rank of capt. He was
in charge of mobile workshops.
In May 1941 he was sent to Iceland as Officer Commanding Heavy Repair
Shops. From there, Cowell transfered to the R.A.F. and went back to
England. He at first was trained on Tiger Moths but then was put on a
twin-engined aircraft with a view to becoming a bomber pilot. That
fell through so he went back to single-engined fighter trainers and
flew the Miles Master until graduating up to the Spitfire.
Later in the war, Cowell was part of a fighter squadron that took part
in the invasion of France. His squadron was in Normandy and stayed in
France through the liberation. On Cowell's second tour of operations
on a mission east of the Rhine his Spitfire took flak full in the
engine. A second shell tore a hole in the port wing. Cowell crash
landed at high speed but survived. For the remainder of the war Cowell
was at Stalag Luft I up near the Baltic between Lubeck and Rostock
until liberated by the Russians on May 5, 1945.
There is no record in Cowell's autobiography of having shot down any
German aircraft; however, he was attacked by German aircraft and took
out some ground targets including IIRC part of a V-1 launch site.

Rob

p.s. Hope this info helps... but does anyone know what R.A.S.C. stands
for?