The Battle of Britain 1940 – some 179 aircrew of RAF Fighter Command lost their lives and were listed as ‘missing’. The author has taken this list and tried to solve some of the mysteries, and in doing so records the lives of a dozen of these pilots who remained missing for decades.
For example, Pilot Officer George Drake who flew with 607 Squadron; his Hurricane was found at Bockingfold Farm in Goudhurst with him still in the cockpit. Identified with him were the cigarette case he’d won at a fairground and a broken fountain pen.
In 1976, when Tony Graves and John Tickner investigated a Hurricane crash site at Daniels Wood, Tuesnoad Farm, Bethersden, the MOD refused to accept that it was Sgt Pilot Eddie Egan of 501 Squadron. After another excavation in 1978, the Hurricane’s main constructor’s plate stamped with P3820 was found, proving that it was Egan. At last his family could erect a headstone.
Sgt Brimble was listed as missing but actually found at a crash site in Maidstone and buried as ‘unknown’. Incredibly, on the 40th anniversary of his death, 14 September 1980, his crumpled cigarette case and a folded £1 note was found.
And it wasn’t until 1992 that the mystery surrounding John Ellis was finally solved when, after numerous applications for permission, the Wealden Aviation Archeological Group was allowed to excavate at Chelsfield, Sevenoaks. In the presence of his relatives, a crater revealed a quantity of bones, part of a Mae West life-jacket, a flying glove, and a portion of engine cowling stamped P2673 – Ellis’s plane.
There are many more, together with photographs of the pilots and their families, and the excavation sites. The diligent research and searches by the author has brought identification to many of those listed as missing, and closure to their families. I found this an interesting read, and it certainly stands as a fitting tribute and testament to those men who lost their lives to enable the rest of us to live in freedom. Lost but never, ever forgotten.