 Though he was officially in the RAF as a Greek ( he became a Rhodesian citizen only after the war ) , Plagis considered himself a Rhodesian flyer and wore shoulder flashes on his uniform denoting him as such . He named each aircraft he piloted during the war after his sister Kay , and painted that name on the side of each cockpit . After briefly flying Spitfires with No. 65 Squadron RAF , Plagis joined No. 266 ( Rhodesia ) Squadron , an almost all @-@ Rhodesian Spitfire unit , on 19 July 1941 . He served in the UK for about half a year , during which he was commissioned as a pilot officer , before being posted to the Mediterranean theatre in January 1942 . 
