John Plagis
Ioannis Agorastos Plagis, DSO, DFC & Bar was a Southern Rhodesian flying ace in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He is the highest-scoring ace of Greek origin, with 16 confirmed aerial victories, including 11 over Malta. Awarded the Distinguished Service Order and other medals, he was also one of Rhodesia’s most decorated veterans.
About John Plagis in brief
Ioannis Agorastos Plagis, DSO, DFC & Bar was a Southern Rhodesian flying ace in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. The son of Greek immigrants, he was accepted by recruiters only after Greece joined the Allies in late 1940. He was part of the multinational group of Allied pilots that successfully defended the strategically important island of Malta during 1942. He is the highest-scoring ace of Greek origin, with 16 confirmed aerial victories, including 11 over Malta. Awarded the Distinguished Service Order and other medals, he was also one of Rhodesia’s most decorated veterans. He contested the Salisbury City constituency in the 1962 general election, standing for the Rhodesian Front, but failed to win. He died in 1974 and was buried in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, where a street has been named after him. He named each aircraft he piloted during the war after his sister Kay, and painted that name on the side of each cockpit. The first major operation was Spotter, the first of many British endeavours to reinforce the besieged island in the Mediterranean in the face of German and Italian assaults. The team of pilots comprised eight British airmen, two Australians, two New Zealanders and four Australians, four Australians and two New Zealander pilots. The pilots would become part of a team of eight pilots that would become the severely depleted No 249 Squadron, which would be part of HMS Eagle, the carrier that would carry the new Spitfire Mk Vs on the way from Gibraltar to Malta in March 1942.
In June 1944, he led many attacks on German positions during the invasion of France and the campaign that followed; he was shot down over Arnhem during Operation Market Garden, but only lightly wounded. After converting to Mustang IIIs, he commanded a wing based at RAF Bentwaters that supported bombing missions. He finished the war with the rank of squadron leader and remained with the RAF afterwards, operating Gloster Meteors at the head of No. 266 Squadron. He considered himself a Rhodesian flyer and wore shoulder flashes on his uniform denoting him as such. He opened a bottle store bearing his name, and was a director of several companies, including Central African Airways in the 1960s. He had five siblings; he used the English form Ioannis, John, from childhood, and attended Prince Edward School in salisbury. He served in the UK for a year, during which he was commissioned as a pilot officer, before being posted to the Mediterranean theatre in January 1942. After briefly flying Spitfires with No. 65 Squadron RAF, he joined No. 266 Squadron, an almost all-Rhodesian Spitfire unit, on 19 July 1941. He flew Spitfires for about half a year in the Middle East and Europe before returning to the UK in early July 1942.
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This page is based on the article John Plagis published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
