Last known Battle of Britain pilot celebrates 105th Birthday

[Grey Havoc]

I should have posted this yesterday (the birthday was actually the day before but I only saw it on Thursday). Group Captain John 'Paddy' Hemingway DFC:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0717/1460456-raf-hemingway-birthday/

https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/last-of-the-few-pilot-celebrates-105th-birthday-at-uk-embassy/

Pilot Officer John “Paddy” Hemingway, born in Dublin in 1919, joined the RAF in 1938. He was one of the young pilots of 85 Squadron that took off from Lille-Seclin aerodrome on strafing attacks, air patrols and dogfights in what became known as the “Battle of France”. No 85 squadron had been in France since the start of the “phoney war” in September 1939.

On 10th May 1940, Paddy was recorded as destroying a He-111, the following day he downed a Do-17 but his Hurricane fighter plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire, and he had to make a forced landing.

Returning to the UK, 85 Squadron, under a new commanding officer, Peter Townsend, became one of the front-line squadrons of 11 Group (Fighter Command) responded to the daily attacks from German aircraft, which became to be known as the ‘Battle of Britain’. Paddy’s logbook records, almost nonchalantly the sometimes up to five daily sorties he and the other pilots undertook in defence of the United Kingdom. In August 1940, during hectic dogfights, Paddy was twice forced to bail out of his Hurricanes, landing once in the sea off the Essex coast and in marshland on the other occasion.

On 1 July 1941, Paddy was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and in September that year, he was Mentioned in Dispatches.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1813663832981618788

View: https://x.com/UKDefenceDublin/status/1813663832981618788

https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/1e5qf1d/irish_battle_of_britain_pilot_celebrates_105th

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/1e5qf1d/irish_battle_of_britain_pilot_celebrates_105th/



For some reason, the BBC overlooked the occasion (possibly the anti-military faction within the organisation is acting up again with Labour's return to power). Here's a couple of pieces they did on him last year though:

John Hemingway: 'There was two of you - one of you was going to be dead at the end'

The veteran credits "Irish luck" with helping him survive being shot down four times during the war.

www.bbc.com

Battle of Britain: Pilot John Hemingway says he was lucky to survive war

John Hemingway, 104, has been shot four times, including twice in the World War Two aerial battle.

www.bbc.com

The Wikipedia article on him:

John Hemingway (RAF officer) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Grey Havoc]

From back in 2020:

The only surviving pilot of the Battle of Britain on being the very last of The Few

On the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, RAF fighter pilot John Hemingway talks exclusively to Joe Shute

www.telegraph.co.uk

Determined few pay tribute as soul-stirring flypast marks 80th anniversary of Battle of Britain

RAF’s Chaplain in Chief compares key workers in the pandemic to wartime victors, saying both were 'quiet, often humble, unnoticed by many'

www.telegraph.co.uk