PREVIEW

Group Captain John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway, who was the last surviving Battle of Britain pilot, has died at the age of 105.

The Irish pilot passed away peacefully on St. Patrick's Day (17March2025), the RAF announced.


More than 85 years ago as a brave 19-year-old Royal Air Force Pilot Officer from Ireland he flew his Hurricane in the skies over France, providing fighter cover to the Allied Armies as they withdrew to Dunkirk.


He did so in the face of overwhelming Blitzkrieg attacks from the German invasion. It became known as the ‘Battle of France’ - before fighting in the skies to ward off Hitler’s Luftwaffe from British shores.

Despite his father initially urging him to study medicine, Paddy was one of the young pilots who signed up to 85 Squadron and took off from Lille-Seclin aerodrome on strafing attacks, air patrols and dogfights as the British Expeditionary Force and other allied troops retreated towards the beaches in the hope of rescue.


The then Pilot Officer Hemingway had been to Europe before. In fact, as a teenager, remarkably, he had attended 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, where he had witnessed the running prowess of U.S. athlete Jesse Owens ruin Adolf Hitler’s day from a distance. There is a photo of him hanging out with German teenagers, some of whom were members of the Hitler Youth.

No 85 Squadron had been in France since the start of the “phoney war” in September 1939, initially based in Boos, Normandy, as part of 60 Fighter Wing.


By all accounts this period was a time of enjoyment for the members of the squadron. They visited local towns where they ate in the restaurants and drank in the bars, enjoying life as best they could, and as young men should. Their
flying consisted of air defence for the airfields, support for Fairey Battle and Bristol Blenheim units as well as sorties over the English Channel.


Paddy was one of the pilots that greeted His Majesty King George VI on a Royal visit to the squadron in December 1939. Over that bitterly cold winter while living in primitive conditions, the weather prevented much flying.

When the German invasion (Blitzkrieg) commenced in May 1940, No. 85 Squadron found itself locked in a bitter contest with the Luftwaffe, and with attacks on its aerodromes, where there was no respite from operations. In an eleven-day period the squadron accounted for a confirmed total of 90 enemy aircraft; there were many more claims that could not be substantiated.

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.


As the Wehrmacht advanced, it was clear the airfields would be overrun and the remaining pilots, aircraft and crews returned to the UK.

The squadron suffered heavily during the Battle of France, with 13 of the original 20 pilots wounded, captured or dead and all but four of its aircraft lost in the twelve days between the start of the German offensive and its return to Britain. Flying from Debden airfield, Paddy and the other pilots undertook air patrols over the Channel and the beaches around Dunkirk.


No 85 Squadron, under a new commanding officer, Peter Townsend, became one of the front-line squadrons of the 11 Group (Fighter Command) response to the daily attacks from German aircraft, which came to be known as the ‘Battle of Britain’. Paddy’s logbook records, stated, almost nonchalantly, the sometimes twice 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.

Towards the end of the October, the strain of fighting and loss of comrades was beginning to take its toll on Paddy. He was particularly troubled by the loss of his dear friend ‘Dickie’ Lee DSO, DFC in August 1940, saying in later years that his biggest regret was the loss of friends.

Squadron Leader Townsend recognised Paddy was feeling the strain and moved him on to lighter squadron duties.

On 1 July 1941, Paddy was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and in September that year, he was Mentioned in Dispatches. His journey to London to receive his DFC from The King began with him escaping from a wrecked Blenheim aircraft which crashed on take-off.

In 1941, serving with No 85 Squadron, based at RAF Hunsdon, in a Havoc night fighter, Paddy had to bail out at 600 feet due to instrument failure in bad weather, breaking his hand on the tail section. Paddy’s parachute failed to open properly, and he was saved further injury as the chute caught on the branches of a tree.

Paddy went on to serve as an Air Fighter Controller for Operation Overlord – the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. In 1945, he served in the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces with 324 Wing and eventually commanded 43 Squadron, which served in Italy. It was during this time that he was forced to bail out a fourth time.


While attacking enemy forces near Ravenna in April 1945, his Spitfire was hit multiple times by anti-aircraft fire. He parachuted into enemy territory and managed to contact Italian partisans, who helped him return to his squadron.

After the war, Paddy was posted to the Middle East and Greece. In the 1950’s he completed Vampire jet fighter conversion, becoming Officer Commanding 32 Squadron in the Middle East.


Now a Wing Commander, in 1965, Paddy went on to work with NATO in HQ SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe).


In 1966 he became Officer Commanding RAF Leconfield and eventually attained the rank of Group Captain before retiring from the RAF in 1969.

Speaking of his service, an RAF statement says: “John Allman ‘Paddy’ Hemingway was the last Battle of France and Battle of Britain (last of “The Few”) pilot. He never saw his role in the Battle of Britain as anything other than doing the job he was trained to do. He didn’t see it as an epoch-making moment in the history of the RAF or the United Kingdom.”

After retiring from the RAF, Paddy kept a low profile. So low, in fact, that the wider world was not aware of his existence until an Irish Times article published in 2016.


After spending some time in Canada with his daughter, Paddy retired to Wicklow, before finally residing in a nursing home in Dublin for some years.

In October 2021 during a break in travel restrictions due to Covid, the then Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston flew to Dublin to meet with Paddy at the nursing home. They spent way over the planned hour talking aircraft, tactics, logbooks, and life in the RAF.


At this meeting Paddy mentioned that he was sorry not to greet the Chief in his RAF Uniform (which by now was in no condition to be worn). Just before Christmas of that year, to the delight of Paddy, the RAF presented to him a new Group Captain uniform, with his medals mounted.


In 2022, working with the Irish Air Corps, the RAF organised a special VIP Day for Paddy at Casement Aerodrome in Dublin. Despite poor weather conditions, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flew in their Lancaster bomber, but most importantly their Hurricane fighter.

Paddy was brought out to the aircraft as it fired up, once more having an opportunity to see and hear ‘his office’. It was at this event that he was reunited with one of the harnesses from the Hurricane he bailed out of over Clacton in 1940. Eighty-two years of time were gone in an instant as Paddy recalled his scramble to get out of his damaged aircraft.

In January this year, the current Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton, visited Paddy at his nursing home to talk more about the Battle of Britain and Paddy’s career in the Air Force.

Paddy always saw himself as a ‘Lucky Irishman’, who was simply doing the job he was paid to do. He never considered himself a hero or special in any way. At the start of World War 2, he was a young man tasked to protect Britain from attack. He and his comrades fulfilled that task daily, despite the risks and regardless of the losses of dear friends.

This quiet, composed, thoughtful and mischievous individual may not have wanted to be the last of ‘The Few’, but he embodied the spirit of all those who flew sorties over this green and pleasant land.

Paddy is survived by his two sons and daughter. The rest of us owe him a huge debt for his bravery.