LONDON (AP) — John “Paddy” Hemingway, the last surviving pilot who flew during the Battle of Britain, has died at the age of 105.
He died Monday at his home in Dublin, the Royal Air Force said.
Hemingway was just 20 years old when he and his comrades in the Royal Air Force took to the skies to fight off wave after wave of Nazi aircraft that sought to pound Britain into submission during the the summer and autumn of 1940.
During dogfights with German aircraft in August of 1940, Hemingway was twice forced to bail out of his Hurricane fighter, once landing in sea off the east coast of England, before returning to his squadron to resume the fight, the RAF said. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry in 1941.
In an interview with the BBC in 2020, Hemingway dismissed suggestions of bravery and heroism, saying he was a pilot and had a job to do.
“The world was at war, and you couldn’t go somewhere and say, ‘I’m at peace and I don’t fight wars,’” he said.
“The main skill was luck. You had to be lucky, no matter how good you were. For instance, my boss, Dickie Lee, was the best pilot I’ve every seen, but he was shot down and killed. So he had no luck. I had bags of luck.”
