[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Iain,

A few months ago I was keen to learn how many and which Battle pilots went to Fighter Command in the summer of 1940. My main sources were Kenneth Wynn's 'Men of the Battle of Britain' (1989) and the Supplementary Volume (1993), plus some other works. Unfortunately I do not have the 2000 edition but am really looking forward to the new version this year.

The eight extra I have below are probably best decribed now as having 'served in France during the Phoney War and the May-June Campaign'. I was a little too quick off the mark, now realizing you meant those pilots who had flown at least operational sortie. Also two apparently flew only with 98 Squadron which would not qualify them for your list. One more flew with 98 Sqn. and then moved to 226 Squadron.

L.C. Allton 98 / 92
H.E. Black 226 / 32-257-46
R.J.E. Boulding 142 / 74
R.W. Clarke 226 / 79-238
D. Haywood 88 / 151-504
J.C. Martin 98 & 226 / 257
J.A. Patterson 226 / 92
D.M.A. Smythe 98 / 264

Of these I can only be sure of Haywood flying operationally during the French Campaign. He was shot down by fighters on 13 June 1940 (ref. 'TBoF,T&N' by Peter Cornwell).

On your list Adair and Snell are new to me, and very welcome. Other Battle pilots (at least five) who joined after their units returned from France also went to Fighter Command. Unfortunately at present I have access to only one Battle squadron (142) ORB for the period. Boulding does not appear to have flown operationally during the campaign.

Hope others can add to the list or expand on this thread.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.