RAF fighter command ww2

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Ground crew loading a dinghy into a Supermarine Spitfire Mark IIA, P8131 'AQ-C', of No. 276 Squadron RAF at Warmwell, Dorset, during an air/sea rescue exercise.

Gloster Meteor Mark IIIs (EE354 'XL-H' nearest) of No, 1335 (Meteor) Conversion Unit taxy to dispersal after a demonstration flight for the Brazilian Air Minister and his party at Molesworth, Huntingdonshire.

WAAF personnel prepare and refuel a Bristol Beaufighter Mark VIF for a night-flying sortie from No. 51 Operational Training Unit at Cranfield, Bedfordshire, as the pilot waits nearby.

Hawker Sea Hurricane Mark I, Z4936 'KE-M', of the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit is lowered onto the training catapult at Speke, Liverpool, for a training launch. At the back of the catapult are some of the firing rockets used to power the launch cradle.

Pilots of No 132 Squadron with their CO, Squadron Leader Alan Page (holding map), and his Spitfire LF IX at Ford, 27 April 1944. Twenty-four hours earlier they had taken part in the first offensive Spitfire operation over Germany, strafing targets in the area between Aachen and Cologne. Page had been badly burned in the Battle of Britain, before resuming operational flying. He finished the war with 10 individual and several shared kills

 

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Mosquito NF Mark XIII, HK382 RO-T, of No. 29 Squadron RAF, at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire. The view looking along the lower fuselage towards the tail, showing the aircraft's armament of four forward-firing 20mm Hispano cannon

A pilot, (Flying Officer L G H Kells; left), and gunner of No. 29 Squadron RAF climb on board their Bristol Blenheim Mark IF for a night sortie from Coleby Grange/Wellingore Heath, Lincolnshire

The pilot of a No 249 Squadron Hurricane looks on as his aircraft is re-armed, North Weald, 28 February 1941.

Three in one night. On 19/20 March Flight Lieutenant 'Joe' Singleton and his navigator Flying Officer W Haslem of No 25 Squadron shot down three Junkers Ju 188s in thirteen minutes. Debris from one of their victims damaged the engines of their Mosquito, and the pair were forced to crash-land two miles from base. Singleton (left) and Haslam are seen with bandaged heads in the Officers' Mess at Coltishall in the early hours of the morning after their successful sortie.

Armourers set the tail fuses on a clutch of 500-pounders in front of a Spitfire XVI of No 603 Squadron at Ludham, March 1945. The bombs were destined for V-2 sites in the Netherlands. Rangers and interdiction sorties were also flown from this Norfolk location, but the advancing land forces would soon take the ground battle beyond the range of UK-based Spitfires.

 

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1941 Airacobra Mark I, AH577, of No. 601 Squadron RAF based at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, in flight. This aircraft was coded UF-M and was for a time the personal aircraft of the Squadron's Commanding Officer

A Hawker Typhoon Mark IB of No. 56 Squadron RAF runs up its engine in a revetment at Matlask, Norfolk, before taking off on a 'Rhubarb' (a harassing fighter operation) over Holland.

Pilot Officer Peter Kells, the pilot of a Blenheim IF of No. 29 Squadron, climbs into his cockpit at the start of another night patrol from Coleby Grange, Lincolnshire, October 1940.
Lionel George Hosford Kells, known to all as 'Peter', was born in March 1918 in Cork, Ireland.
On 21st February 1941 he took off in Hurricane Mk II Z2398 for a high-altitude test flight, connected with petrol-heating trials, the aircraft never returned, Kells was posted ‘Missing’. He has no known grave and is commemorated on Panel 30 of the Runnymede Memorial.

Officers and guests celebrating the first anniversary of the arrival of No. 92 Squadron RAF at RAF Biggin Hill, September 1941.
The group includes, in the front row, (left to right): Wing Commander John A. Kent (Kentowski), Flight Lieutenant Anthony Bartley, Mrs Wade, Flight Lieutenant Robert Holland, Pilot Officer Trevor Wade and two unidentified ladies. And in the back - Pilot Officer Sebastian Maitland-Thompson, Flying Officer Tom Weiss (Intelligence Officer) and Flying Officer Geoffrey Wellum.

John Alexander "Johnny" Kent RCAF 13 aircraft destroyed, three probables and three damaged
Anthony "tony" Bartley RAF 12 (and 1 shared) destroyed, 1 unconfirmed destroyed, 5 'probables' and 8 'damaged'
Robert Holland RAF 6 aircraft destroyed killed, in an aircraft collision flying a vampire in 1954
Trevor Sidney "Wimpy" Wade RAF, 10 aircraft destroyed, he was killed test flying the Hawker P.1081 prototype fighter in 1951
Pilot Officer Sebastian Maitland-Thompson, died in Germany 1945.
Flying Officer Geoffrey RAF Wellum Pilot and author Claimed a Heinkel He 111 shot down on 11 September, and a quarter share in a Junkers Ju 88 downed on 27 September 1940. Two (and one shared) Messerschmitt Bf 109s were claimed 'damaged' during November 1940. A Bf 109 was claimed shot down on 9 July 1941 over France.

Squadron Leader J A F MacLachlan, the one-armed Commanding Officer of No 1 Squadron RAF, standing beside his all-black Hawker Hurricane Mark IIC night fighter, 'JX-Q', at Tangmere, Sussex. MacLachlan flew bombers in France in 1940, but transferred to fighters in June 1940 and shot down 6 enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain. He joined No. 261 Squadron RAF in Malta, as a flight commander, and was shot down in February 1941, as a result of which his left arm was amputated. He quickly returned to operations after being fitted with an artificial limb, flying with No. 73 Squadron in North Africa, but in July 1941 returned to the United Kingdom to take command of No. 1 Squadron. The Hurricane is sporting his personal emblem showing his amputated arm waving a 'V' sign. He was again shot down in 1943 and became a prisoner-of-war, by which time his score had risen to 16.5 victories.

 

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Defiant Mark Is, (N1536, PS-R nearest), of No. 264 Squadron RAF, lined up at Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire.

Smoke floats being loaded onto the fuselage bomb carrier of Westland Lysander Mark IIIA, V9547 BA-E, an air-sea rescue aircraft of No. 277 Squadron RAF, at Hawkinge, Kent

Whirlwind Mark I, P6984 HE-H, of No. 263 Squadron RAF on the ground at Exeter, Devon.

Hoverfly Mark I, KK984 B, of the Helicopter Training Flight, Fighter Command, about to land by a petrol tanker at Andover, Hampshire.

 

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Flight Sergean Georges Nadon of No 122 Squadron was the focus of a photo-story taken at Hornchurch in May 1942. The Photographer's brief was to record the movements of a single pilot over the course of a day. The 27-year-old French-Canadian, seens striking a pose in the cockpit of his Spitfire, was asked to list his hobbies. Somewhat predictably, the response was 'girlfriends and beer'!

1940 Surviving pilots of No. 601 Squadron RAF pose on a tractor used to negotiate the muddy conditions on the airfield at Exeter, Devon. 601 Squadron suffered crippling losses during the Battle of Britain and moved to Exeter on 7 September 1940 after being classified as overdue for rest and training of new pilots, (Class 'C'). Among the pilots identified are two flight commanders, Flight Lieutenant W P Clyde (first left) and Flying Officer T Grier (second left), who shot down nine and one shared , and eight and four shared, enemy aircraft respectively during the air battles over France and Britain.

In October 1941 Grier was given command of 32 Squadron at Angle in Pembrokeshire. He was killed on 5th December when he was shot down in Hurricane IIb Z3237 during a joint operation with 607 Squadron off Le Havre.
Grier has no known grave and is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 28.

 

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A Spitfire of No. 19 Squadron is refuelled at Fowlmere, near Duxford, September 1940.

Flight Lieutenant J A Plagis and Flying Officer A J Hancock of No. 64 Squadron RAF, standing in front of a Supermarine Spitfire Mark V at Hornchurch, Essex. They had, between them, shot down 16 enemy aircraft in the air battles over Malta in 1941 and 1942.

Ioannis Agorastos "John" Plagis,[n 1] DSO, DFC & Bar was a Southern Rhodesian flying ace in the RAFr, noted especially for his part in the defence of Malta during 1942. Having been interested in aviation since he was a boy, Plagis volunteered for the Southern Rhodesian Air Force (SRAF) soon after the outbreak of war in September 1939. He was turned down because he was the son of foreign nationals and therefore not a citizen, despite having lived in Rhodesia all his life. After Italy invaded Greece in late October 1940, bringing the Greeks into the war on the Allied side, Plagis applied again—this time to join the Royal Air Force, which had absorbed the SRAF in April 1940 and was accepted.
Plagis finished the war with a tally of 16 enemy aircraft confirmed destroyed (including two shared victories counted as half a kill each), two shared probably destroyed, six damaged and one shared damaged.This made him Southern Rhodesia's highest-scoring ace of the war, as well as the top-scoring ace of Greek origin.He was one of the most-decorated Southern Rhodesian servicemen of the war

Exhibiting its aggressive lines to advantage, Typhoon IB JP853/SA-K of No 486 Squadron displays for the photographer during a visit to Tangmere, 27 October 1943. One of the Typhoon's problems, especially during its first months of service, was that it was frequently mistaken for the FW190. After various experiments the identification markings shown here, consisting of 12in black and 24in white bands, were adopted.

Flight Lieutenant J M Maclennan, the Intelligence Officer of No. 406 Squadron RCAF, hanging aircraft recognition models in his office at Acklington, Northumberland

Sergeant Witold Krupa of No. 306 Polish Fighter Squadron wearing his "Mae West" life jacket. Note female names written on it - "Mollie" and "Sheila". RAF Churchstanton, 26-28 January 1942.

Wing Commander F V Beamish (right), the Station Commander of North Weald, Essex, standing with Squadron Leader E M Donaldson, Commanding Officer of No 151 Squadron RAF, following a successful combat with enemy fighters over Dunkirk on 30 June 1940, during which Beamish shot down two Messerschmitt Bf 109s. Beamish, despite his age (37), lost no opportunity to fly operationally, with the fighter squadrons under his command, both during and after the Battle of Britain. He was shot down and killed on 28 March 1942, while Station Commander of Kenley, Surrey, having brought his personal score to 11confirmed and 7 probable victories. Donaldson finished his operational service in 1944, having shot down at least 10 enemy aircraft.

Squadron Leader Edward 'Jack' Charles, commanding No 611 Squadron, chalks up the Biggin Hill Sector's 1,000th enemy aircraft, following a successful sweep over Normandy on 15 May 1943. That afternoon, Charles shot down two FW190s, while the CO of No 341 Squadron, Commandant Rene Mouchotte, destroyed another. As it was not clear which of the two pilots had secured the 1,000th kill, the honours - and sweepstake of £300 - were shared between them.

Commandant René Mouchotte DFC (21 August 1914 – 27 August 1943) was a World War II pilot of the French Air Force, who escaped from Vichy French–controlled Oran to join the Free French forces. Serving with RAF Fighter Command, he rose to command a fighter wing before being shot down and killed on 27 August 1943.
He was shot down and killed in combat with Fw 190s of JG 2 during Ramrod S.8, escorting Flying Fortresses on the first daylight raid to Blockhaus d'Éperlecques in the Pas de Calais on 27 August 1943. His body was later washed ashore on 3 September and was buried in Middelkerke, Belgium. After the War in 1949, his body was exhumed, repatriated and buried in the family tomb at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris on 3 November after a memorial service with full military honoursconducted at Les Invalides in Paris.
He had accumulated some 1,748 flying hours, including 408 operational hours flying 382 war sorties. He had claimed two aircraft destroyed (with a further one "shared"), one "probable" and one damaged.

 

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Boulton Paul Defiant Mark I night fighter, N1801 'PS-B' "Coimbatore II", of No. 264 Squadron RAF, undergoing a routine service in a dispersal, probably at Colerne, Wiltshire. This aircraft was flown by the effective night-fighting team of Flying Officer F D Hughes (pilot) and Sergeant F Gash (gunner), and displays a victory tally of 5 enemy aircraft shot down. In 1942 Hughes converted to the Bristol Beaufighter and, flying with Nos. 125 and 600 Squadrons RAF, further increased his score. By the end of the war, he commanded No 604 Squadron RAF and had destroyed 18.5 enemy aircraft

Seven Spitfire F Mark XIIs (MB882 'EB-B' nearest) of No. 41 Squadron RAF based at Friston, Sussex, in flight over the South Downs.

Aircraft of No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight at Collyweston, Northamptonshire, 22 February 1945. Focke Wulf Fw 190A-5/U8, PN999, undergoes an engine service while airmen re-paint the wings of Junkers JU 88S-1, TS472. PN999 was formerly WNr. 152596 'White 6' of I/SKG10, flown by Uffz. Werner Ohne who became lost while flying a night fighter-bomber operation to London and landed by mistake at Manston, Kent, on 20 June 1943. No. 1426 Flight collected PN999 from the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, on 29 June 1943, after it had undergone tests at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment,Boscombe Down, Wiltshire. TS472 was captured intact at Villacoublay near Paris in September 1944 and was delivered directly to No. 1426 Flight, with whom it undertook some local flying in January 1945. Both aircraft were eventually passed to No. 47 Maintenance Unit at Sealand for storage in November 1945.

Pilot Officer H. A. Picard of No. 350 (Belgian) Squadron, on the wing of his Spitfire at Kenley, July 1942.
In November 1941 the first Squadron of Belgian volunteers was formed in Fighter Command. One of its pilots was Pilot Officer H. A. Picard, seen here on the wing of his Spitfire at Kenley in July 1942. His aircraft was among a number 'presented' by the Belgian Congo, and bears the name of one of its principal towns
Henri Picard was a Belgian Supermarine Spitfire pilot who was taken prisoner during the WW2, He is notable for the part he took in the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III in March 1944 and as one of the men re-captured and subsequently shot by the Gestapo.

Personnel and aircraft of No. 276 Squadron RAF assembled at Harrowbeer, Devon, to show the resources needed to mount a single air-sea rescue sortie. The aircraft are, in front, an Avro Anson, a Supermarine Spitfire and, at the rear, a Supermarine Walrus. The Commanding Officer, Squadron Leader R F Hamlyn, formerly a fighter pilot with 13 confirmed aerial victories, stands in the foreground.

 

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Spitfire F Mark XII, MB882 EB-B, of No. 41 Squadron RAF based at Friston, Sussex, in flight over Eastbourne.

1940 Pilot Officer A V "Taffy" Clowes of No. 1 Squadron RAF, climbing into his Hawker Hurricane Mark I, P3395 'JX-B, in a revetment at Wittering, Huntingdonshire. Note Clowes' personal 'wasp ' emblem under the engine exhausts.

Ground staff work on a No 610 'County of Chester' Squadron Spitfire V at Westhampnett, 11 April 1943. Corporal Houseman (top), Corporal Phenna (with oil can) and Sergeant Moore (below) had all been with the Squadron since its formation in February 1936.

 

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Acting Squadron Leader H J L Hallowes, sitting on the wing of his Supermarine Spitfire Mark VB "City of Bombay" at Scorton, Yorkshire, upon assuming the command of No. 122 Squadron RAF. A veteran of the Battle of Britain, Hallowes had shot down at least 19 enemy aircraft by November 1940, while flying with No. 43 Squadron RAF. He added to his victories with 122 Squadron, and also commanded Nos. 222 and 504 Squadrons RAF before the end of the war, by which time his score was over 21.

Armourers (Jindrich Prokop, a British Corporal and Vladimir Masek) replenish the ammunition in Hawker Hurricane Mark I, P3143 'NN-D', of No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF at Duxford, Cambridge. 1940.

After an awards ceremony at Hornchurch, Essex, decorated RAF pilots cheer King George VI. They are, (left to right): Flying Officer J L Allen, Flight-Lieutenant R R Stanford Tuck, Flight-Lieutenant A C Deere, Flight-Lieutenant A G Malan, Squadron-Leader J A Leathart and an airman bugler. Allen, Deere, and Leathart, all serving with No. 54 Squadron RAF, had, between them, shot down 25 enemy aircraft by the end of the Battle of France.

Flight-Lieutenant R H A Lee, after being awarded the DSO and DFC, and Flying Officer K H Blair, after being awarded the DFC, by King George VI at RAF Hornchurch, Essex. The awards were given for their distinguished service as fighter pilots with No. 85 Squadron RAF in France. Lee, a flight commander with the Squadron, was posted missing in action on 18 August 1940, having destroyed at least 9 enemy aircraft. Blair flew with No. 151 Squadron RAF during the Battle of Britain, and later converted to night fighters. He finished the war commanding No. 613 Squadron RAF, having brought his victory score to 12.

Lee was last seen in pursuit of an enemy formation thirty miles off the east coast on the 18th 1940. Lee has no known grave and is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 6. He was 23 years old.

Pilots of No. 19 Squadron RAF relax between sorties outside their crew room at Manor Farm, Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire. They are (left to right), Pilot Officer W Cunningham, Sub-Lieutenant A G Blake of the Fleet Air Arm (nicknamed "The Admiral") and Flying Officer F N Brinsden, with Spaniel. Blake was killed the following month in a dogfight over Chelmsford, Essex.

John "Cat's Eyes" Cunningham CBE, DSO & Two Bars, DFC & Bar, AE RAFnight fighter ace and a test pilot. During the war he was nicknamed "Cat's Eyes" by the British Press to explain his successes and to avoid communicating the existence of airborne radar to the enemy.
Cunningham's combat career ended with 20 aerial victories, three probable and six damaged.

Arthur Giles Blake
On 3rd September Blake damaged a Me110, on the 9th he destroyed a He111, on the 15th he destroyed a Me109, shared a He111 and damaged a Do17 and on the 17th he destroyed two more Me109's.
Blake was acting as weaver during a patrol over South London on 29th October 1940, when he was shot down and killed, probablyby a Me109. His Spitfire, P7423, flew on for some time before crashing in London Road, Chelmsford.

 

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An RAF sergeant introduces two Czech fitters to the inner workings of a No 310 Squadron Hurricane at Cosford, October 1940. Clearly visible in this photograph is the reserve fuel tank immediately in front of the cockpit, which was the cause of terrible cockpit fires if ignited during combat.

Captured Fiat CR.42, BT474, of the Air Fighting Development Unit, parked in a dispersal at Duxford, Cambridgeshire. The aircraft was salvaged following a forced landing at Orfordness, Suffolk, on 11 November 1940, and was kept by the AFDU through the war. It is currently preserved and displayed at the R

oyal Air Force Museum Hendon, as MM5701 '13-95'.
Jose Joaquin Moniz de Aragao, the Brazilian Ambassador, greets Flight Sergeant A Williams, during the presentation of Spitfire "O Bandeirante" to No. 111 Squadron RAF at Debden, Essex, on behalf of the people of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Senor Montero de Bustamante, Uruguayan Charge d'Affaires, speaking at the ceremony at Hornchurch, Essex to name a Spitfire ("Uruguay XVI") subscribed to by the people of Uruguay. Air Vice Marshal H W L Saunders, Air Officer Commanding No 11 Group of Fighter Command, is on the extreme left, with the Rt Hon H H Balfour MP, Under Secretary of State for Air (second from left) and Air Vice Marshal R M Hill, Air Officer Commanding No 12 Group (centre foreground)

In the summer of 1940 the first Polish squadrons were formed in Fighter Command. No. 303 'City of Warsaw' Squadron was the top-scoring RAF unit in September 1940, with nine of its pilots claiming five or more kills. Pilot Officers Jan "Donald Duck" Zumbach (left) and Mirosław "Ox" Ferić, two of its aces, playing with the Squadron's mascot - a puppy dog. RAF Leconfield, 24 October 1940.

Jan Eugeniusz Ludwig Zumbach was a Polish-Swiss[1] fighter pilot who became an ace and squadron commander In the postwar period he became a mercenary in Africa and played a key role in forming the air forces of the breakaway states of Katanga and Biafra.
Zumbach's final victory tally was 12 (and 2 shared) confirmed kills, five probables and one damaged.

Mirosław Ferić. On 14 February 1942, he was killed at RAF Northolt after his Spitfire (BL432) broke up at 3,000 feet (910 m) and the resulting G-forces as the aircraft corkscrewed held him inside and prevented him bailing out. He is buried in Northwood Cemetery.
Mirosław Ferić was the 11th ranked Polish fighter ace with 8 and 2/3 confirmed kills and 1 probable kill.

1942 Squadron Leader H S L "Cocky" Dundas, Commanding Officer of No 56 Squadron RAF, at Duxford, Cambridegshire. Dundas shot down at least 6 enemy aircraft in the United Kingdom between 1940 and 1943. He assumed commmand of 56 Squadron in December 1941, and in 1943 he was posted to the Malta to lead No. 244 Wing RAF through the Sicilian and Italian Campaigns. In 1944 he became one of the youngest Group Captains in the RAF and, by the end of the war, had increased his total of victories to 11. He was the brother of J C Dundas who was killed during the Battle of Britain.

 

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Squadron Leader R P Beamont, Commanding Offier of No. 609 Squadron RAF, sitting in the cockpit of his Hawker Typhoon Mark IB, R7752 'PR-G', at Manston, Kent.
Wing Commander Roland Prosper "Bee" Beamont, CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar was a British fighter pilot for the RAFand an experimental test pilot. He was the first British pilot to exceed Mach 1 in a British aircraft in level flight and the first to fly a British aircraft at Mach 2.
During the Second World War, he flew more than five hundred operational sorties. He also spent several months as a Hawker experimental test pilot developing the Hawker Typhoon and Tempest, and was responsible for introducing these types into operational squadron service.[1] He pioneered the ground attack capabilities of the Typhoon and led the air to air campaign against the V-1 flying bomb
In 1945 he commanded the Air Fighting Development Squadron at RAF Central Fighter Establishment, before leaving the service in 1947. During his subsequent career as English Electric Aviation chief test pilot (and later for BAC), he directed the flight test programmes of the Canberra, the Lightning, and TSR-2, making the maiden flight of each type.
When he retired from test flying in 1968, he had flown 167 different types during a total of 5,100hr and 8,000 flights—of which more than 1,100 were supersonic. He set three Atlantic records in the Canberra, including Britannia Trophy for the first double Atlantic flight in one day. In 1971, he became Panavia flight operations director, responsible for the testing
o the Tornado, retiring in August 1979 following the maiden flight of the first production Tornado.

The navigator/radar operator of a No 125 Squadron Beaufighter VIF settles into his position, ready for another night patrol from Exeter, 14 September 1943.

Squadron Leader Peter Townsend chatting with ground crew on his Hawker Hurricane at Wick, Scotland, 1940.

 

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Squadron Leader J W C Simpson DFC, Commanding Officer of No. 245 Squadron RAF, seated in the cockpit of his Hawker Hurricane Mark I, W9145 'DX-L', at Aldergrove, County Antrim, on the day before he shot down his twelfth enemy aircraft. Note Simpson's 'Jester' emblem below the cockpit.

Pilots of No. 306 Polish Fighter Squadron looking at a caricature on a blackboard in the crew room of RAF Churchstanton, 26-28 January 1942. The airman on the left is very likely Flying Officer Adam Fliśnik.
The caricature, titled "Wodzowie w akcji - Commanders in Action", was of No. 306 Squadron's Commanding Officers, drawn by Sergeant Władysław Potocki. It depicts winged COs of the Flight "B", F/Lt Stanisław Zieliński, and "A", F/Lt Stanisław Skalski, being photographed by S/Ldr Antoni Wczelik, the CO of the Squadron.
Flying Officer Adam Fliśnik KIA 1942

The Spitfire XIV was the second Griffon-powered version of the fighter to see service. Unlike the Mk XII, it was intended for combat at all altitudes, and was built in large numbers. The size of its five-bladed propeller is apparent in this view of a No 610 aircraft refuelling at Friston in July 1944. The squadron was busy helping to repel the V-1 offensive, and would claim a total of 50 flying bombs by the end of the summer.

Three American pilots of No. 71 (Eagle) Squadron RAF, Pilot Officers A Mamedoff of Thompson, Connecticut, V C 'Shorty' Keough of Brooklyn, New York and G Tobin of Los Angeles, show how their new squadron badge will look on Keogh's uniform at Church Fenton, Yorkshire. Mamedoff was formerly a stunt pilot in an air circus. Keough was a professional parachutist with 480 drops at the time this photograph was taken. Tobin was a commercial pilot who also did film work in Los Angeles.
Three American pilots of No. 71 (Eagle) Squadron RAF, Pilot Officers A Mamedoff, V C 'Shorty' Keough and G Tobin, show off their new squadron badge at Church Fenton, Yorkshire, October 1940.

Flight lieutenant Andrew Beck Mamedoff known as Andy, was an American who flew with the RAF during the Battle of Britain . He was one of 11 American pilots who flew with RAF Fighter Command between 10 July and 31 October 1940.
He had learned to fly in the USA and even had his own plane with which he performed at airshows. He and Eugene Tobin had been flying friends at Mines Field in California before the war. He was attempting to set up charter services in Miami immediately prior to the war. Mamedoff initially came to Europe to fight on the side of Finland against the Soviet Union, but hostilities had ceased before he arrived.
He joined the French Air Force towards the end of the Battle of France, but as France fell he came to England with his friends and fellow Americans Eugene Tobin and Vernon Keogh and joined the Royal Air Force in 1940.
After converting to the Spitfire, Mamedoff was posted to RAF Middle Wallop and joined No. 609 Squadron on 8 August 1940.
He was posted to RAF Kirton in Lindsey in Lincolnshire in 1940 and was a founding member of the No. 71 'Eagle' Squadron along with Art Donahue, Eugene Tobin and Vernon Keogh.He was posted to RAF Duxford in August 1941 to another "Eagle Squadron", No. 133 Squadron as a flight commander
In 1941 Mamedoff married an English woman, Alys Laird "Penny" Mamedoffat Epping. He became the first of the Americans to take a war bride during World War II.

On 8 October 1941, Mamedoff was flying with 133 Squadron on a standard transit flight from Fowlmere Airfield to RAF Eglinton in Northern Ireland in his Hurricane Z3781. The wreckage of his plane was found near Maughold on the Isle of Man and it is thought that he crashed due to poor weather conditions. His body was later recovered for burial at Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey

Pilot Officer Vernon Charles "Shorty" Keough was an American pilot who flew with the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain in World War II.
He joined the French Air Force towards the end of the Battle of France, but as France fell he came to England with his friends and fellow Americans Andrew Mamedoff and Eugene Tobin and joined the Royal Air Force in 1940.
Keough was the smallest pilot in the whole of the Royal Air Force, hence the nickname, and was just 4'10" (tall. He had to use two cushions in his Spitfire to see out of the cockpit. On 8 August 1940 Keough was posted to No. 609 Squadron RAF at Middle Wallop airfield. He flew many missions during the height of the Battle of Britain in August and September. He was credited with one shared kill: Dornier Do 17 bomber shot down on 15 September with Pilot Officer Mike Appleby and Flight lieutenant John Dundas.
He was posted to RAF Kirton in Lindsey in Lincolnshire on 18 September 1940 and was a founder member of No. 71 'Eagle' Squadron along with Art Donahue, Andrew Mamedoff and Eugene Tobin.
On 15 February 1941, Keough was on a convoy-protection mission off Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire. During the chase of a Heinkel He 111, he was last seen spinning off into the sea. He may have been a victim of disorientation in cloud or oxygen failure. He was 29 years old. His body was not recovered, but he is remembered on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede.

Flying Officer Eugene Quimby "Red" Tobin
He joined the French Air Force towards the end of the Battle of France, but as France fell he came to England with his friends and fellow Americans Andrew Mamedoff and Vernon Keogh and joined the RAF in 1940. On 7 September 1941.
Tobin was killed in combat with Bf 109's of JG 26 on 71 Squadron's first sweep over northern France, one of three Spitfires shot down. He crashed into a hillside near Boulogne-sur-Mer and was buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France. He was 24 years old.

 

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Pilots and non-operational officers of No 92 Squadron RAF standing in front of a Supermarine Spitfire Mark I at Manston, Kent, with the squadron "scoreboard" amended to record their 130th enemy aircraft destroyed. They are (left to right): Flying Officer "Judy" Garland (Engineering Officer), Flying Officer T Weiss (Intelligence Officer), Pilot Officer R Mottram, Sergeant R E "Tich" Havercroft, Flight-Lieutenant C B F Kingcombe, Squadron Leader J A Kent (Commanding Officer), Flying Officer T B A "Jock" Sherrington, Pilot Officer C H Saunders, Flying Officer R H Holland, Flying Officer A R Wright, Sergeant H Bowen-Morris and Sergeant J W Lund.

Squadron Leader P A Hunter (far left), the Commanding Officer of No. 264 Squadron RAF, briefs his pilots by a Boulton-Paul Defiant Mark I of the Squadron at Duxford, Cambridgeshire
Philip Hunter, DSO (was a Royal Air Force pilot, squadron commander and a Second World War flying ace, awarded the Distinguished Service Order for leading the destruction of thirty-eight enemy aircraft in only two missions[ over the Dunkirk evacuation beaches in May 1940. He was killed in action leading his squadron during the Battle of Britain.
In the five days from 24 to 28 August 1940, 264 Squadron was almost wiped out, losing 3 aircraft and crews each day on 24, 26 and 28 August.On 24 August, while in action against a formation of Ju 88s which had just bombed RAF Manston, Defiant serial number N1535(fuselage codes PS-A) was last seen chasing an enemy bomber out to sea.Both of its crew were posted missing when they failed to return.Both Hunter and his gunner, were killed in action. they have no known graves.

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Whirlwind Mark I, P7094 HE-T, of No. 263 Squadron RAF, on the ground at Warmwell, Dorset, with Flying Officer J P Coyne, a Canadian pilot, in the cockpit. The markings below the cockpit indicate that this aircraft was presented to the RAF by the Bellows Foundation in South America.

Squadron Leader P B "Laddie" Lucas, when Commanding Officer of No. 616 Squadron RAF at Ibsley, Hampshire. A former international golfer and journalist, Lucas opened his victory score with No. 249 Squadron RAF in Malta, a unit which he later commanded. He commanded 616 Squadron from April to July 1943, following which he led the Coltishall Wing. After a further rest from operations he commanded No. 613 Squadron RAF, flying night-intruder sorties until the end of the war.

 

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Pilot Officer W V Crawford-Compton of No 485 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF, sitting in the cockpit of his Supermarine Spitfire Mark VB, "Samson", at Kenley, Surrey. At the time this photograph was taken, Crawford-Compton had shot down 3 enemy aircraft. He joined No. 611 Squadron RAF as a flight commander in August 1942, and in December 1942 was given the command of No. 64 Squadron RAF, which he led until July 1943. After promotion to Wing Commander Flying at Hornchurch he lectured on tactics in the USA, returning to operations in April 1944 in command of No. 145 (Free French) Wing of the 2nd Tactical Air Force. His final total was 21.5 victories and, having been awarded the DSO and Bar and DFC and Bar, he became the most highly-decorated New Zealand fighter pilot of the war.

 

[dinomartino1]

Flight Sergeant E R Thorn (pilot, left) and Sergeant F J Barker (air gunner) of No 264 Squadron RAF and their Teddy Bear mascot, presented to them by their ground crew, posing with their Boulton-Paul Defiant Mark I at Biggin Hill, Kent, after destroying their first Heinkel He 111, bringing their total of enemy aircraft destroyed to thirteen. These two sergeants became the most successful Defiant partnership of the war.

Flight Sergeant E R Thorn (pilot, left) and Sergeant F J Barker (air gunner) of No 264 Squadron RAF and their Teddy Bear mascot, presented to them by their ground crew, posing with their Boulton-Paul Defiant Mark I at Biggin Hill, Kent, after destroying their first Heinkel He 111, bringing their total of enemy aircraft destroyed to thirteen. These two sergeants became the most successful Defiant partnership of the war.

Douglas Boston Mark III, (Intruder) W8358 'TH-R', of No. 418 Squadron RCAF flying off the French coast whil heading back to its base at Bradwell Bay, Essex, after a night sortie over Europe. W8358 was eventually lost while on another night intruder sortie to Creil, France, on 8 November 1942.

Fitters working on the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine of a Boulton Paul Defiant of No. 125 Squadron RAF at Fairwood Common, Wales, January 1942

Flight Lieutenant H P "Cowboy" Blatchford of No. 257 Squadron RAF climbing out of his Hawker Hurricane Mark I at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk.
Howard Peter "Cowboy" Blatchford, DFC was a flying ace, who achieved the first Canadian victory in World War II.
Leading the Coltishall Wing to escort bombers attacking a power station in Amsterdam, Blatchford was shot down and killed in action on 3 May 1943 by Obfw. Hans Ehlers of II Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 1. His body was never found. He is commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial at RunnymedeAt the time of his death, Blatchford had claimed five aircraft shot down, three shared aircraft shot down, three "probables", four damaged and one shared damaged.

 

[dinomartino1]

Pilot Officer J Allen (right) and Flight Sergeant W Patterson, a No 96 Squadron Mosquito crew based at West Malling, survey the wreckage of the Ju 88 which they shot down near Cranbrook in Kent on the night of 18-19 April 1944. The Junkers was one of eight enemy bombers destroyed by RAF night-fighters that night, during the last Operation Steinbock raid on London.

1944- They baled out over the north sea and where posted MIA, no known graves.

Flight Sergeant Morris Rose of No 3 Squadron points out the essential characteristics of the V-1 flying bomb to other Tempest pilots at Newchurch, 23 June 1944. The Scottish pilot downed his first 'doodlebug' on 16 June, and by the end of July had claimed a total of 11 destroyed.

A Hawker Hurricane Mark I of No 245 Squadron RAF, taxies into the Squadron's dispersal at Aldergrove, County Antrim, after a shipping patrol, past other aircraft standing at readiness.

Hoverfly Mark I, KK995 E, of the Helicopter Training Flight, Fighter Command, on the ground at Andover, Hampshire.

North American Mitchell Mark IIs (FL707 'EV-Z' nearest) of No. 180 Squadron RAF, taxiing along the perimeter track at Dunsford, Surrey, for take off on a cross-Channel bombing sortie in support of Operation STARKEY.

 

[dinomartino1]

Squadron Leader Douglas Bader (centre) and fellow pilots of No. 242 (Canadian) Squadron RAF, Flight Lieutenant Eric Ball and Pilot Officer Willie McKnight, admire the nose art on Bader's Hawker Hurricane at Duxford, October 1940.

Ball was killed flying a Meteor in 1946.

William Lidstone "Willie" McKnight DFC & Bar of 242 Squadron was the second Canadian ace and that country's fifth-highest scoring ace of the Second World War. McKnight joined the RAF in early 1939 and served in No. 242 Squadron RAF during the final phase of the Battle of France, covering the Allied retreat from Brittany, and later the Battle of Britain. McKnight's aircraft wore a distinct cartoon of a jackboot kicking Hitler on the port side of the engine cowling. His Hurricane also carried a human skeleton image which held a sickle in its hand under the cockpit, on both sides of the aircraft.McKnight scored 17 victories, as well as two shared and three unconfirmed kills. McKnight was shot down and killed on 12 January 1941 during a fighter sweep over Calais, and has no known grave.

Air Marshal Sir Roderick Hill, Air Officer Commanding ADGB, is shown the wreckage of one of three enemy aircraft shot down by aircrews of No. 488 Squadron RAF, flying from Bradwell Bay, Essex, on the night of 21 March 1944. In the photograph are, (left to right) Flight Lieutenant C P Reed (navigator), Squadron Leader E N Bunting (pilot, pointing toward the wreckage), AM Sir Roderick Hill, Wing Commander R C Haine (Commanding Officer of No. 488 Squadron) and Flight-Sergeant J L Wood (navigator). This particular aircraft, a Junkers Ju 188E-1 of 2/KG6, came down at Butler's Farm, Shopland, Essex, and was Bunting and Reed's second 'kill' of the evening.

On the night of 29&30/vii/44, eight crews took off on Patrols over France. S/Ldr Edward Bunting and his Nav/Rad, F/O Ted Spedding were chasing a FW190 at low level when they were hit by flak. Bunting managed to pass a message over the radio that they had been hit. This was followed by an explosion being seen on the ground some 15 seconds later.
With no other information available, the crew were posted as “Missing, Believed Killed”.
Neither man survived, and were interred in a joint grave at St Remy churchyard in the Calvados region of France.

Wing Commander F D Hughes, Commanding Officer of No. 604 Squadron RAF standing in front of a De Havilland Mosquito NF Mark XIII at Predannack, Cornwall. Hughes was posted to No. 264 Squadron RAF in 1940 and by April 1942 had shot down 6 enemy aircraft, 3 of them at night, while teamed up with his gunner, Segreant F Gash. In 1942, he served with No. 125 Squadron RAF in the United Kingdom, followed by No. 600 Squadron in North Africa and Italy in 1943, before being posted to the staff at HQ Fighter Command. After another staff apointment with No. 85 Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force, he took command of 604 Squadron in July 1944, and shot down his last victim on 13 January 1945 to bring his score to 18.5 victories.

Squadron Leader B J E 'Sandy' Lane, the Commanding Officer of No. 19 Squadron RAF (facing camera), relaxes with some of his pilots in the Squadron crew room at Manor Farm, Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire.

'B' Flight of No 406 Squadron, Fighter Command's first Canadian night-fighter unit, pose for a formal portrait with one of their Merlin-engined Bristol Beaufighter Mk IIFs, serial T3037. The central seated figure is 406 squadron's Commanding Officer, Doug "Zulu" Morris. Acklington, January 1942.

 

[dinomartino1]

Aircrews of No 605 Squadron RAF relax in their crew room at Ford, Sussex, before night intruder operations.

Squadron Leader Stanford Tuck poses with a group of pilots of 257 Squadron, Royal Air Force under the nose of Tuck's Hawker Hurricane at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk. They are displaying souvenirs of their action against Italian aircraft on 11 November 1940.

Radio mechanics testing the VHF Radio mechanics testing the VHF transmitter/receiver in a Hawker Hurricane Mk I of No. 601 Squadron RAF at Exeter, Devon, November 1940.

 

[B-Man2]

Dino
Great thread!
Living in the US I really never learned much about the men and the history of the RAF, the RAAF, the NZRAF or the Canadian RAF, and the Polish volunteers. Of course most of us knew about the BOB, but really not much more than the basics. Threads like this have taught me so much more about the men, their courage and their sacrifices. I sincerely thank you for that.
Cheers

 

[Steve27752]

Dino
Great thread!
Living in the US I really never learned much about the men and the history of the RAF, the RAAF, the NZRAF or the Canadian RAF, and the Polish volunteers. Of course most of us knew about the BOB, but really not much more than the basics. Threads like this have taught me so much more about the men, their courage and their sacrifices. I sincerely thank you for that.
Cheers

Or the South African Air Force (SAAF).