81 years ago today, a Spitfire was lost in a Belgian forest. On 13 January 1945, Spitfire MJ444 was damaged by anti-aircraft fire during a ground-attack sortie in the Battle of the Bulge. Her Canadian pilot, Flt Lt Harold “Hal” Fairfield of 443 Squadron RCAF, managed to bring the aircraft back over friendly lines before an engine fire forced him to bail out. He survived - MJ444 did not. The Spitfire lay buried for more than seven decades until she was located and excavated in 2019. Aero Legends