The Battle of Britain (42 page)

Al Deere was shot down over Dunkirk, baled out and returned to the squadron. During the Battle of Britain he made forced landings, collided with a 109, baled out more than once and was taking off from Hornchurch on August 31 when a bomb burst near his aircraft and hurled it upside down. His score at the end of the Battle was 13 and he had a DFC and bar. He later earned a DSO and ended the war as a wing commander with 17 victories. He retired as an air commodore and had an OBE to add to his decorations.

ROBERT FRANCIS THOMAS DOE
of 234 Sqn destroyed his first enemy machine, a Bf 110, on August 15, 1940. He shot down his eleventh on September 7, including three 109s in one day. With a DFC to his name, he was posted to 238 Sqn, with whom he made three more kills and got a bar to his DFC before being wounded and shot down. At the end of the war he was a squadron leader with 14 confirmed victories and a DSO at the head of his medals.

EDWARD MORTLOCK DONALDSON,
known in the Service as ‘Teddy', was a Cranwell graduate. He first served on No. 1 Sqn and was in its aerobatic team. In 1937 he went to 72 as a flight commander, and in November 1939 took command of 151. Dick Smith, who joined 151 to command a flight in June 1940, says of him, ‘He was an altogether exceptional pilot: he could fly lower, do better aerobatics and shoot better than anyone I had met up to then.' His first success came in May 1940 over France when he shot down two Ju 87s. By the beginning of August he had 5½ confirmed, then went on rest. He survived the war and retired as an air commodore, CB, CBE, DSO, AFC.

JOHN CHARLES DUNDAS
joined 609 Sqn of the Auxiliary Air Force before the war. Between May 31, 1940, when he shot down an He 111 and shared a Do 17 over Dunkirk, and October 15, when he got a Bf 110 and had won a DFC, he destroyed at least 11 and four shared. On November 28, by which time he was a flight lieutenant, he shot down a Bf 109 flown by a leading German ace, Helmut Wick (56 victories), but the latter's wing man shot him down and he was killed.

HUGH SPENCER LISLE DUNDAS,
known as ‘Cocky', and John's younger brother, also served in the AAF, on 616 Sqn, whose Gauntlets were replaced by Spitfires soon after the outbreak of war. Based at Leconfield, during July and August he shared two confirmed and two probable victories. On the 19th the
squadron moved to Kenley and three days later a Bf 109 shot him down. He went to hospital and his injuries kept him grounded for ten days. The squadron suffered such heavy casualties that on September 4 it was sent to Coltishall to reform.

On February 26, 1941, 616 Sqn, on which Johnnie Johnson was also serving, joined Douglas Bader's Tangmere Wing. F/O Dundas's victories began to mount and on July 19 his DFC was gazetted. By then, still not 21 years of age, he was commanding a flight. Further promotions followed, until at 23 he was the youngest group captain in the RAF. He finished the war with four confirmed victories, and six shared victories, and a DSO and bar to add to his DFC.

ROY GILBERT DUTTON
joined 111 Sqn in 1937. He destroyed a Ju 88 in March 1940. In May and June he shot down three 109s, two He 111s, a 110 and a Ju 87. In July he got an He 111. He was awarded a DFC on May 31 and a bar to it on 20 August. In the next months he claimed four more victories. He rose to wing commander by the end of the war.

WILLIAM LAWRENCE DYMOND
began his operational career as a sergeant on 111 Sqn in 1940. He shot down two Do 17s and two He 111s in May, a Bf 109 in June, and three Do 17s, a 110, and an He 111 in August. He shared in destroying several other enemy machines and was awarded a DFM. His total came to 10 confirmed and one shared victory. He was killed in action on September 2, 1940.

JOHN ELLIS
was commanding a flight of 610 Sqn in 1940 when he shot down a Bf 109 over Dunkirk on May 29 and a Bf 110 on the 31st. In July he brought down five 109s, which earned him a DFC. He took command of the squadron and destroyed three 109s and an He 111 in August. In 1941 a bar to his DFC was gazetted. His score was 12 confirmed and one shared. Later he led a wing in Malta and survived the war.

HENRY MICHAEL FERRISS,
an officer on 111 Sqn, shot down three Bf 110s and a 109 over France in May 1940. He got two 109s on June 6, and his DFC came through. He downed another 109 on the 10th. On July 10 he added one more 109 to his tally. In August he shot down a Do 17, and shared in destroying several enemy aeroplanes. Later that month he crashed into one and was killed.

WILLIAM HENRY FRANKLIN
was an RAF apprentice who rose to the rank of sergeant pilot, on 65 Sqn, before the war. His first combat was over Dunkirk
on May 22 when he shared in damaging a Ju 88. He had a share in damaging one more hostile before shooting down a Bf 110 and a 109 on the 26th. He was promoted to flight sergeant and awarded the DFM, claimed several more victories and by the end of October, when he was commissioned, was believed to have a score of 13 and three shared. He was shot down and killed by a Ju 88 on December 12, 1940.

JOSEPH FRANTISEK
was in the Czech Air Force when Germany invaded his country. He escaped and joined the Polish Air Force. When Poland fell he went to France and flew with the French Air Force. He next arrived in England and was posted to 303 Sqn. Between September 2 and 30 he shot down nine Bf 109s, two 110s, five He 111s and a Ju 88. On October 8 he was killed in a crash landing. He was the second most successful Czech fighter pilot of the war.

JOHN CONNELL FREEBORN
joined 74 Sqn in 1938. Between May 21 and September 11, 1940 he destroyed four Bf 109s, two Bf 110s, two Do 17s and one Ju 88, for which he was given a DFC. He later commanded 118 Sqn, increased his score to 11 and two shared, and survived the war.

JOHN ALBERT AXEL GIBSON,
a New Zealander, joined the RAF in 1938. In May 1940 he went to 501 Sqn in France, where he shot down a 109 and two He 111s. Between July and September he brought down three Ju 87s, three 109s, a Do 17 and a Ju 88. He was shot down no less than five times, and wounded on the final occasion.

IAN RICHARD GLEED,
nicknamed ‘Widge', was in 46 Sqn at the outbreak of war and was posted to command a flight in 266 later in 1939. In May 1940 he was transferred to 87 Sqn in France, where he destroyed two Bf 110s, a 109 and two Do 17s. After returning to England he got four more 110s, won a DFC and took command of the squadron. He later operated in North Africa as a Wing Leader and increased his score to 13 and three shared. He was shot down and killed in 1943.

COLIN FALKLAND GRAY,
who was on 54 Sqn when the war started, became New Zealand's top-scoring fighter pilot. He shared in bringing down several enemy aircraft. His individual successes began with a Bf 109 on May 5, 1940, and two Bf 109s in July. In August he got six Bf 109s, two of them on one sortie, and two 110s, again on the same operation. In September he destroyed three Bf 109s,
a 110 and an He 111. By then he had a DFC and bar. He became a wing commander, survived the war with a score of 27 confirmed and two shared, and retired as a group captain.

HERBERT JAMES LAMPRIERE HALLOWES
joined the RAF as an apprentice, qualified for his wings and promotion to sergeant, and joined 43 Sqn in 1940. His first action was on February 3, 1940 when he shared an He 111 with two others. On April 8 he shot an He 111 down. Over the French coast on June 1 he claimed three Bf 109s and a 110. Six days later in a fight with a 109 his engine was hit and as he was about to bale out his adversary fired at him again. He regained his seat and shot it down. On August 8 he sent down two Bf 109s. He had several more successes until, by the end of the Battle of Britain, he was credited with 16 victories. He was awarded the DFM and bar on September 6. He went on to command 222 Sqn, 165 Sqn, then 154 Sqn. His final score was 17 confirmed and two shared.

FREDERICK WILLIAM HIGGINSON,
always known as ‘Taffy', joined the RAF as a Halton apprentice at the age of 15. He was posted to 7 (Bomber) Sqn three years later as a fitter and volunteered to be an air gunner, which was then a part-time occupation in conjunction with an airman's basic skilled trade. He next qualified as a sergeant pilot and went to 56 Sqn, by which time he had made a name for himself at boxing and rugger. On the declaration of war the Air Minister, Kingsley Wood, visited North Weald, where 56 was stationed. He informed the pilots that when the fighting started their life expectancy would be three weeks! The response to this was laughter and a loud request from one of them that, in view of this, they should be allowed to put Service petrol in their cars.

On May 16, 1940, by which time Taffy Higginson was a flight sergeant, he was one of six pilots from his squadron detached to France to form a composite squadron with a flight of No. 43. The following day he destroyed a Do 17 and an He 111. The next day he shot down a Bf 110. Only he and one other member of his flight survived to return to England on the 20th. On July 15 he was awarded a DFM. During the Battle of Britain he shot down four Do 17s, three 110s, and one 109, and damaged two others. One of the Do 17s crashed on Romney Marsh and he repeatedly flew over it taking photographs with his camera gun. But his engine had been damaged and seized up. He landed forcibly and in his anxiety to quit the resulting conflagration he tripped and fell into a cowpat, thereby revealing an unsuspected hazard of the fighter pilot's trade.

Shot down in France in 1941, when his score stood at 12, he made an outstanding evasion of capture, was caught on the Spanish frontier, escaped and eventually got home, to rise to wing commander, acquire a DFC and eventually survive the war.

HAROLD NORMAN HOWES,
a sergeant on 85 Sqn, which went to France in September 1939, shot down four Do 17s in one sortie on May 20, 1940. On returning to England he shot down two Bf 110s and shared a Do 17 in August and another on September 1. Posted to 605 Sqn, he bagged a Do 17 on September 15 and three 109s in October and November. His score was 11 and one shared. He was killed in a flying accident on December 22.

PATERSON CLARENCE HUGHES
was an Australian. He joined the RAF before the war, served on 64 Sqn, then joined 234 in October 1939. After sharing two Ju 88s in July, he shot down a Bf 110 and shared another on August 15. On the 16th he got two Bf 109s, two again on the 18th and two on the 26th. He was awarded a DFC, then destroyed three 110s on September 4, two 109s on the 5th and a 109 on the 6th. On the 7th he blew up a Do 17, but was so close that fragments damaged his own aircraft and he crashed to his death, credited with 14 kills and three shared.

PHILIP ALGERNON HUNTER
of 264 (Defiant) Squadron was one of the most admired, respected and loved squadron commanders of the war. He and his air gunner, Leading Aircraftman Frederick Harry King, shared a record reading: shot down a Ju 88 on May 12; a Bf 109 and a shared He 111 over Dunkirk on the 27th; two Bf 109s on May 28; a 109, a Ju 87 plus a Bf 110 or Ju 88 on the 29th. Hunter now had a DSO and King a DFM. On May 31 they got a Bf 109 and an He 111 and shared an He 111. They were shot down and killed on August 24 with a total of nine and one shared.

JAMES EDGAR JOHNSON,
always known as ‘Johnnie', became the RAF's top-scoring ace by the end of the war. He learned to fly in the RAFVR and joined 19 Sqn in late August 1940. The squadron was too busy to break in new pilots, so three days later he was posted to 616 Sqn, which had just been taken out of the front line for a rest and would have time to train novices. The consequences of an old injury to his shoulder necessitated an operation and by the time he was fully fit the Battle of Britain was over. He therefore was not in a position to shoot down his first enemy aircraft until 1941. All his victims were single-engine fighters, the
most difficult of targets, except for one Bf 110 that he shared with three other pilots. His own aircraft was hit only once, by a single cannon shell. He ended the war as a group captain, commanding a Spitfire Wing in France and Germany.

EDGAR JAMES KAIN,
a New Zealander nicknamed ‘Cobber', was the first RAF ace of the war. Having joined 73 Sqn before the war he found himself in France in September 1939. His successes were meteoric. He shot down his first enemy aircraft, a Do 17, on November 8, 1939. On the 23rd he destroyed another at the great height of 27,000ft (8,300m). His third kill came in March 1940, a Bf 109 that damaged his Hurricane in return so badly that he had to bale out. On March 26 he scored over a Bf 109 that set his aircraft on fire, but he did not bale out until he had also shot down its companion 109. These successes won him a DFC. He amassed 16 confirmed victories before being killed in a flying accident in June 1940.

JAMES ROBERT KAYLL
joined 604 Sqn, Auxiliary Air Force, in 1934 and accompanied it to France in September 1939, but was transferred to command 615 Sqn in March 1940. In May that year he shot down two Bf 110s, and an He 111. He claimed six additional kills and before returning to Britain at the end of May he had been given a DSO and a DFC. In addition to sharing sundry victories he individually shot down two Bf 109s, an He 111 and a Do 17 in the Battle of Britain. In July 1941, when leading the Hornchurch Wing, he was shot down and captured.

JOHN IGNATIUS KILMARTIN
joined the RAF before the war and went to France with No. 1 Sqn on the outbreak. As early as November 23, 1939, he shared in the destruction of a Do 17, and bagged a Bf 109 and a Ju 88 in April 1940. In May and June he destroyed six Bf 110s and three 109s. After a spell on instructing he became a flight commander on 43 Sqn and shot down a Bf 110 and a 109 in September 1940. His DFC was awarded the following month. He went on to become a wing commander and survive the war,

JAMES HARRY LACEY
joined the RAFVR in 1937 and by the outbreak of war was an instructor at the Yorkshire Aeroplane Club. He was posted to 501 Sqn, which went to France on May 10, 1940. On the 13th he shot down a Bf 109 and an He 111 on the same sortie, and a Bf 110 on his next, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. On May 27 in one combat he destroyed two He 111s and was mentioned in despatches.