Vernon Swain, a nurse, in St George's Cathedral, Perth, on 24 May; the couple had two children. Swain's father had been a pilot with the Royal Flying Corps in World War I. In August, Spence was posted to the Middle East. He underwent operational flying training in Khartoum, Sudan, before joining No. 3 Squadron in September. Based in Egypt, No. 3 Squadron operated P-40 Tomahawk fighters against German and Italian forces. On 1 January 1942, having converted to P-40 Kittyhawks, No. 3 Squadron attacked sixteen Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers and their escort of six Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters near Agedabia in Cyrenaica; Spence was credited with shooting down a Ju 87. He landed his single-seat fighter in the desert on 26 January to pick up another No. 3 Squadron pilot, Sergeant Walter Mailey, whose Kittyhawk had been forced down. On 14 February, No. 3 Squadron and No. 112 Squadron RAF intercepted over thirty Italian and German aircraft attempting to raid Tobruk. The Allied pilots claimed twenty enemy aircraft destroyed, one of which, a Bf 109, was credited to Spence. He claimed a probable Bf 109 on 15 March, and was promoted to flight lieutenant on 1 April. In the first of his five sorties in the Bir Hacheim area on 16 June, Spence, along with Nicky Barr, bombed and strafed a column of German tanks and support vehicles, igniting fires that sent the smell of burning flesh into the cockpits of the low-flying aircrafta "ghastly horror", according to Spence, that made him physically ill. His many ground-attack missions and two aerial victories earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross. Barr recalled Spence as being the "hottest dive bomber in the Desert" and "one of the rocks of the squadron". Returning to Australia in September 1942, Spence was posted as an instructor to No. 2 Operational Training Unit in Mildura, Victoria. The unit operated several types of aircraft including Kittyhawks, CAC Boomerangs and Supermarine Spitfires. Spence was promoted to acting squadron leader on 1 February 1944 and assumed command of No. 452 Squadron two days later. Based near Darwin, Northern Territory, No. 452 Squadron was one of three Spitfire squadrons comprising No. 1 (Fighter) Wing, whose role was to defend North-Western Area from Japanese air attack. On 8 March, No. 452 Squadron was urgently dispatched to the vicinity of Perth, Western Australia, in response to concerns that a Japanese naval