The Few Are No More

[RosscoPCole]

A sad, but inevitable day has arrived. The last surviving Battle of Britain pilot has passed away.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg1z42pkj8o

Blue skies John Hemmingway.

[languagetimothy]

yeah I just read that. downed 90 enemy planes in 11 days. splendid. many others and had to bail a few times.

does put things into perspective when Starmer is a "sir" doesn't it.

[TonyToniTone]

Some great pictures in that link

[sanguinary]

Reading the BBC article, if they made his life through the War into a film, it could be suggested it was far fetched.

The soldiers, sailors, pilots and crew that got us through the war really were on another level.


Rest In Peace.

[Eric Mc]

languagetimothy said:

yeah I just read that. downed 90 enemy planes in 11 days. s

90?

No Allied airman ever approached that total in the whole of World War 2.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

If you read the BBC article it was his overall squadron that shot down 90 enemy aircraft in 11 days, not him personally (in no way is this meant in a derogatory manner to this great man, just questioning the reading comprehension of some people).

[languagetimothy]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

If you read the BBC article it was his overall squadron that shot down 90 enemy aircraft in 11 days, not him personally (in no way is this meant in a derogatory manner to this great man, just questioning the reading comprehension of some people).

oops my bad, but anyway, hell of a chap

[blue_haddock]

I posted up in the death thread about him.

Hopefully the full Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will honour him at his funeral and i'd hope for attendance by the King to show the nations appreciation.

[eccles]

We (as in, Hawker Restorations) are restoring one of his aircraft. As with many of these aircraft most of it is a new build, but we're using as much original stuff as we can.

[anonymous-user]

eccles said:

We (as in, Hawker Restorations) are restoring one of his aircraft. As with many of these aircraft most of it is a new build, but we're using as much original stuff as we can.

Wonderful! What an amazing thing to be involved in.

[Earthdweller]

RIP Paddy

Enjoy your final flight to the stars to rejoin your comrades

Shot down four times, bailing out once without a parachute and survived the fall, another time landing in the North Sea he was picked up by a rowing boat from a lighthouse near Clacton

Crash landing in Belgium he walked 70 miles back to British lines among refugees with a badly injured leg, which a soldier operated on with a knife and a candle to remove shrapnel from his kneecap

Truly truly a remarkable man from a remarkable generation

Lest we forget

[worsy]

blue_haddock said:

I posted up in the death thread about him.

Hopefully the full Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will honour him at his funeral and i'd hope for attendance by the King to show the nations appreciation.

Probably not as he was Irish and was Dublin resident.

[Eric Mc]

It would be a nice gesture if someone could spare a Spitfire or a Hurricane for his funeral. They have made the journey across the Irish Sea before.

[crofty1984]

Earthdweller said:

RIP Paddy

Enjoy your final flight to the stars to rejoin your comrades

Shot down four times, bailing out once without a parachute and survived the fall, another time landing in the North Sea he was picked up by a rowing boat from a lighthouse near Clacton

Crash landing in Belgium he walked 70 miles back to British lines among refugees with a badly injured leg, which a soldier operated on with a knife and a candle to remove shrapnel from his kneecap

Truly truly a remarkable man from a remarkable generation

Lest we forget

Makes you really appreciate the great sacrifices they all made - imagine having to go to Clacton. Poor chap.

[blue_haddock]

worsy said:

blue_haddock said:

I posted up in the death thread about him.

Hopefully the full Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will honour him at his funeral and i'd hope for attendance by the King to show the nations appreciation.

Probably not as he was Irish and was Dublin resident.

He didnt worry about being irish when signing up to defend England so i cant see why it should be an issue now.

[Wills2]

First light, a memoir by Geoffrey Wellum is well worth a read, amazing stuff.

[Eric Mc]

He didn't sign up "to defend England".

He signed up before the war started because he wanted to fly - and, like quite a few Irishmen, came to the conclsion that the RAF was the best place to achieve that goal.

And he wasn't just defending "England" anyway, he was defending all of Britain and, to a large extent, Western Democracy.

I just hope trhat his efforts weren't in vain.

[dukeboy749r]

Regardless of the whys and wherefores, the definition of a hero needs his face alongside it.

[ferret50]

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

[BikeBikeBIke]

The DFC is the coolest medal ever.

RIP. A perfect representative of the few.