Terence Spencer, (18 March 1918 – 8 February 2009) was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War, and later a war photographer for Life magazine. Early life Terence Spencer was born on 8 March 1918 during a Zeppelin raid in Bedford, England, the son of an engineering company owner. Educated at Cheltenham College, Spencer took an engineering degree at the University of Birmingham. Military career On graduation, Spencer joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and then transferred to the Royal Engineers, commissioned from acting lance corporal to second lieutenant on 20 December 1939. In February 1941, due to the losses of pilots during the Battle of Britain, an Army Council Instruction was issued to state that British Army personnel could apply to transfer to the Royal Air Force (RAF), which 18,000 officers took up. RAF service Spencer transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) and was commissioned on 10 October 1941 (RAF No. 47269). He completed his entire flying training in the United Kingdom, and was a flying officer by the time of his posting to his first operational unit, No. 26 Squadron RAF at Gatwick, in November 1942. In June 1943, Spencer was promoted to Flight Commander of the unit, and four months later to flight lieutenant. Having spent 15 months with No. 26 Squadron, he was posted to No. 165 (Ceylon) Squadron at Culmhead as a Flight Commander at the beginning of February 1944, flying Spitfire IXs. Spencer was posted to No. 41 Squadron RAF as Officer Commanding A Flight, on 28 May 1944, where he flew Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XIIs. Between 23 June and 28 August 1944, he claimed seven V-1 flying bombs destroyed, but an eighth is also recorded in his logbook that did not make it to the official records. One of these he succeeded in destroying by tipping it up with the wing of his aircraft, an event sketched into his logbook by fellow pilot and amateur artist, Flight Lieutenant Tom Slack, who titled the drawing "Tip 'em Up Terry". In early September 1944, Spencer led a section of four pilots on an armed reconnaissance over Belgium where they encountered two of the Luftwaffe's highest-scoring aces, Emil "Bully" Lang, the Commanding Officer of II/JG26 (173 victories), and Alfred Gross (52 victories), in FW190s over Tirlemont. Although one of his section was killed, the two aces were