The remarkable life of 'Paddy' John Hemingway, the last Battle of Britain pilot
The last surviving pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain has died.
Group Captain John "Paddy" Hemingway, who was from Dublin, died on St Patrick's Day at the age of 105.
The Royal Air Force (RAF) said Hemingway "passed away peacefully" on Monday, the last of "The Few", the name coined by then prime minister Winston Churchill to describe the Battle of Britain pilots.
Churchill had said: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
The current prime minister Sir Keir Starmer was among those to pay tribute to Hemingway, who was shot down four times during the Second World War.
In an interview with the BBC in 2023, Hemingway said: "I was shot down many times but I'm still here. So many others were shot down first time and that was the end of them. I was lucky. And I'm still lucky."
Hemingway was born on 17 July 1919 in Dublin and as a child attended St Patrick's Cathedral Choir School and St Andrew's College.
Hemingway was accepted into the Royal Air Force and began training in Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire, in January 1939, before being appointed a pilot officer two months later.
Hemingway flew his single-seater Hurricane fighter aircraft in the Battle of France, providing cover in the form of dogfights and patrols to the allied troops as they retreated to the beaches of Dunkirk.
During an 11-day period in May 1940, Hemingway's No. 85 Squadron shot down 90 enemy Luftwaffe aircraft. On 10 May, he was recorded as destroying a He 111 bomber and the next day he took down a Do 17 fighter, but his Hurricane was hit by anti-aircraft fire and he had to make a forced landing, before all Allied pilots, aircraft and crews returned to the UK.
Hemingway played a key role in the three-month Battle of Britain between July and October 1940, under No. 85 Squadron's new commanding officer, Peter Townsend, who would later go on to have a romance with Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II.
Hemingway said of Townsend: "He was a very nice person and a very good leader. He always went in first."
Their squadron became one of those on the front line of the 11 Group (Fighter Command) responding to daily attacks from Nazi aircraft.
He was twice forced to bail out of his Hurricane in dogfights in August 1940, once landing in the sea off the coast of Essex and in marshland on another occasion.
The wreckage of his Hurricane was recovered decades later in 2019 with the control column and the gun-button still set to "fire".
Hemingway said of dogfights: "There were two of you. One of you was going to be dead at the end. You thought: 'Make sure that person was not you.'
"Every day, off you went. When you took off you knew some of you would come back - and some of you wouldn't."
A photo of Hemingway looking skyward was published in the US magazine Life.
On 1 July 1941, Hemingway was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, given to RAF personnel for acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty while flying on active operations. While on his way to London to receive his medal from the King, he was forced to abandon his Blenheim aircraft after it crashed during take-off.
In the same year, while flying a Havoc night fighter with No. 85 Squadron based at RAF Hunsdon, Hemingway had to bail out at 600ft because of instrument failure in bad weather, and broke his hand on the tail section. His parachute failed to open properly and he was spared further injury when his chute caught on the branches of a tree.
In January 1944, Hemingway was made a temporary squadron leader and served as an air traffic controller during the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day.
He had to bail out a fourth time in April 1945 while serving in the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces and fighting near Ravenna in Italy. His Spitfire was hit multiple times by anti-aircraft fire and he parachuted into enemy territory, but managed to contact Italian partisans who helped him find his way back to his squadron. Hemingway retired from the RAF in 1969 as a Group Captain.
Hemingway said two years ago he put his long life down to "Irish luck".
He told the BBC: "I'm not a great man - I'm just a lucky man. I don't think we ever assumed greatness of any form. We were just fighting a war which we were trained to fight.
"We were doing a job we were employed to do. We just went up and did the best we could."
Hemingway became the last surviving member of The Few in May 2020, following the death at the age of 101 of former radar operator Terry Clark.
Hemingway spent the last few years of his life back in Dublin, living in a care home.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton, head of the RAF, said: "It is with great sadness that I heard of the passing of John 'Paddy' Hemingway. I am thankful that I was able to meet and spend time with him in Dublin, most recently in January this year.
"Paddy was an amazing character whose life story embodies all that was and remains great about the Royal Air Force. Throughout his life he inspired those he knew and served with."
The Prince of Wales said: 'I was sad to hear about the passing of John 'Paddy' Hemingway this morning, the last of 'The Few'.
'We owe so much to Paddy and his generation for our freedoms today. Their bravery and sacrifice will always be remembered. We shall never forget them.'
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said: 'Eighty years ago, the courage and determination of Paddy and all our brave RAF pilots helped bring an end to the Second World War.
'They fearlessly flew over enemy territory to protect the UK and its Allies, risking their lives.
'He never considered himself a hero and often referred to himself as the 'Lucky Irishman', a man simply doing his job, like so many others of his generation."
Defence secretary John Healey said: 'Paddy came from a generation who understood the importance of freedom and sacrificed so much to achieve it.
'The last known Battle of Britain pilot, he embodied the deep courage of that incredible generation.'
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