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Yesterday, July 17, the last known remaining fighter pilot from the 1940 Battle of Britain celebrated his 105th birthday. Group Captain (ret’d) John Allman “Paddy” Hemingway, DFC, AE, was born in Ireland in 1919. In the summer of 1940, Hemingway turned 21 while flying Hawker Hurricanes with the Royal Air Force’s 85 Squadron, led by then Squadron Commander Peter Townsend. Townsend later earned greater fame for his romantic involvement with Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth.
Hemingway and 85 Squadron were based at RAF Debden (later home of the USAAF 4th Fighter Group) and then RAF Croydon during the storied battle, in which the badly outnumbered RAF Fighter Command defeated the previously unbeaten German Luftwaffe. The setback caused Hitler to reverse course eastward and attack Russia, turning the tide of World War II.
Though Paddy Hemingway never achieved ace status (five enemy aircraft destroyed), he said with “the luck of the Irish,” he survived being shot down twice during the Battle of Britain and twice more—once in North Africa and again in Italy. He served as an air controller during the Normandy Invasion and was temporarily made Squadron Commander. Following VE Day, he was appointed Commander of RAF 43 Squadron and became a Wing Commander and later Station Commander at RAF Leconfield. He served as a NATO staff officer in France, ultimately achieving the honorary rank of Group Commander upon retirement in 1969.
