British Pilot Who Sacrificed His Life
LeEnfield
Active member
He died late last year, his aircraft crashed at the junction of Buckingham Palace Road and Ebury Street London SW1. There was a history programme made a few years back when they dug up the remains of his plane from the road junction. When it crashed they just filled in the hole along with the plane and concreted over the top of it all.
redcoat
Active member
This is the famous story of Flight Sergeant Ray Holmes who died last year aged 90 who supposedly rammed a Donier which was about to attack Buckingham Palace, after he had run out of ammo.
But its a myth. The Dornier wasn't about to attack Buckingham Palace.
In fact it wasn't going to attack anywhere, because it had already been abandoned by its surviving crew, and was flying on autopilot by the time Ray Holmes rammed it.
The Dornier was from I/KG 76 and flown by Oberleutnant Robert Zehbe, and was part of a mission to bomb the railway lines running between Clapham Junction and Battersea power station. However the formation had come under heavy attack, and Zehbe's aircraft had been badly hit with two crewman dead, so Zehbe ordered the two other crew members to bale out, he then set the aircraft on to autopilot and baled out himself. The bomber flew on, as part of the formation at first, but soon the main formation changed course, and the abandoned bomber flew on alone, until its meeting with Ray Holmes.
source, The Most Dangerous Enemy, A History Of The Battle Of Britain. By Stephen Bungay.
