On the morning of St. Valentine's day four pilots were returning from an armed recce into Germany when they caught sight of a pair of ME-262 jets North-east of Abaus 4000 feet below flying at 3000 feet and in the same direction.

 

F/L Lyal Shaver went for one  while F/O Hugh Fraser went for the other, followed by the remaining two. Lyal shot two short bursts - the first one travelling underneath, the second making no mistake. The aircraft blew up, pieces of which hit his radiator and port wing and tail, holes being made in the radiator and port wing tip. He also made two quick bursts at the other aircraft, then ran out of ammunition.

Meanwhile Hugh Fraser climbed up the tail of the other ME-262 and trained his sights on it. It dived for the deck with Fraser and the others following. Strikes were seen as it went down. It disappeared through the low cloud, through which  a few seconds later smoke began to rise. It was his third air victory.

"Typhoon Victory"

These two  particular historical events has been vividly captured to canvas by famous aviation artist Bob Durnan a former GCA controller  with the RCAF. You can see  this and other authentic spectacular works  of Bob, by visiting his  Aviation Art website. Copyright© 2005 by Bob Durnan. Used with permission.  

 Less than three weeks later F/L Lyal Shaver was killed by flak over the Reichawald.

FL CL Shaver  shows his ground crew a souvenir of the ME-262 that he shot down (Photo scanned from the Roundel)