![]() He gained his first victory on 24 August 1940 during the Battle of Britain. In 1939 the squadron began to organize itself as a specialized night fighter unit. 29 Squadron RAF, where he learned to fly the Hawker Hurricane and Bristol Blenheim. Upon the completion of flight training, he was posted to No. John Randall Daniel “Bob” Braham (6 April 1920 – 7 February 1974) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) night fighter pilot and the most highly decorated airman in RAF Fighter Command.īraham joined the RAF on a five-year short service commission in December 1937 and began basic training in March 1938. His total victory count could be as high as 32. His Spitfire was damaged by ground fire, and he was forced to ditch into the sea on his way back to England across the English Channel. On 15 July 1942, Finucane took off with his flight for a mission over France. In June 1942, he became the RAF’s youngest wing commander in its history. 602 Squadron, he was credited a further six individual victories bringing his tally to 28. Within six months as a squadron leader in No. 452 Squadron flying offensive patrols over France, where he had his most successful period of operations, destroying 20 German aircraft, sharing in the destruction of three, with two damaged and another two probably destroyed from 4 January to 13 October 1941. Promoted to acting flight lieutenant in April 1941, he joined No. In June–July 1940, he began conversion training on the Supermarine Spitfire □, and on 13 July, Finucane was posted to No. ![]() He applied to join the RAF and, in August 1938, was accepted for flight training as a pilot. In 1936, the family moved to England, where he developed an interest in aviation. Wing Commander Brendan Eamonn Fergus Finucane (16 October 1920 – 15 July 1942), also known as Paddy Finucane amongst his colleagues, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilot whose first victory was scored on 12 August 1940 during the Battle of Britain.įinucane was born into a Catholic family in Ireland and grew up during the “early troubles” a nd the Irish Civil War. Johnson continued his career in the RAF after the war and served in the Korean War before retiring in 1966 with the rank of air vice marshal. ![]() He flew 700 operational sorties and engaged enemy aircraft on 57 occasions, which included the destruction of 14 Messerschmitt Bf 109s □ and 20 Focke-Wulf Fw 190s □. Johnson was credited with 34 individual victories over enemy aircraft and seven shared victories during the Dieppe Raid, Combined Bomber Offensive, Battle of Normandy, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and the Western Allied invasion of Germany. He took part in the offensive sweeps over German-occupied Europe from 1941 to 1944, almost without rest. He had been interested in aviation since his youth and applied to join the RAF, and although he was initially rejected on social and medical grounds, he was eventually accepted in August 1939. Johnson grew up and was educated in the East Midlands, where he qualified as an engineer. During the battle, 188 RAF pilots achieved the distinction of aces – about eight percent of the total involved.Īir Vice-Marshal James Edgar Johnson (9 March 1915 – 30 January 2001), nicknamed “Johnnie”, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and the Top British Ace of War. The individual actions of aces were then widely reported and celebrated, usually to provide the home front with a cult of the hero in what was otherwise a war of attrition. During the Second World War, German aces were colored by grandiose Nazi propaganda, although Luftwaffe pilots generally flew many more individual sorties than their Allied counterparts.ĭuring the Battle of Britain, RAF pilots claimed to have shot down about 2,600 German aircraft. Of 2,332 Allied pilots who flew fighters in the Battle, 38.90 percent could claim some success in terms of enemy aircraft shot down. The concept emerged in 1915 during World War I ( Adolphe Pégoud was the first person described by French newspapers as l’As after becoming the first pilot to down five German aircraft). ![]() A fighting ace, flying ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down at least five enemy aircraft during aerial combat.
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