John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway, last pilot of ‘the Few’ who fought in the Battle of Britain
He flew Hurricanes and Spitfires and was shot down four times, twice in a period of a few days during the battle against the Luftwaffe
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Hemingway: ’I had the staggering luck to fight alongside great pilots, flying magnificent aircraft , with the best ground crew, in the best air force in the world’
Group Captain John “Paddy” Hemingway,
who has died aged 105, was the last surviving pilot of “The Few”, the men of Fighter Command who fought in the Battle of Britain. During his wartime career as a fighter pilot he was shot down four times, twice in a period of a few days during the Battle.
He joined 85 Squadron flying Hurricanes in December 1938 and went with the squadron to France on the outbreak of war. Based near Lille, the squadron flew sector reconnaissance flights and exercises with the French Air Force during what became known as the Phoney War. Activity remained sparse until May 10, when the Germans advanced into the Low Countries and France.
Hemingway was immediately in action and shot down a Henkel III over Hesdin. The following day he shared in the destruction of a Dornier bomber, but on the 12th his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire as he pursued a German aircraft at low level. He was wounded in the leg and had to make a forced landing.
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Hemingway flew mainly Hurricanes: ‘He doesn’t feel as though he did anything special. But he liked the idea that he was last Irishman to have fought in the Battle’
He joined a column of refugees as they headed westwards before meeting an Army patrol. After reaching his squadron a few days later, he was sent back to Britain to recover.
No 85 lost so many aircraft that it was withdrawn after nine days and returned to Britain with just three planes. Only half the pilots who had been available on May 10 were still in a position to fight. The new commanding officer, Squadron Leader Peter Townsend, turned to Hemingway and six others who had returned from France to provide the fund of experience to lead the new pilots.
Based at Debden in Essex, the squadron provided protection for the east coast convoys. July and August were hectic months, with action against the Luftwaffe increasing from the middle of August as the raids south of the River Thames intensified.
Late in the afternoon of August 18, the squadron was ordered to patrol over Canterbury. The 13 Hurricanes intercepted a large raid and individual dog fights soon developed. Hemingway broke away to attack a Junkers 88 bomber. His Hurricane’s engine was hit by return fire, the cockpit filled with oil and glycol and the aircraft went into a spin.
He recovered at 7,000 feet and headed for base, but then his engine stopped. He recalled: “I had to bale out, knowing survival rates in the North Sea were not good.” He had spent two and a half hours in the water when “a rowing boat from a nearby lightship bumped into me.” He was 12 miles east of Clacton and was landed at Felixstowe. He returned to the squadron the following day.
On August 26, Hemingway was climbing to engage some Messerschmitt Bf 109 when his Hurricane was attacked. The engine was hit and for the second time in eight days he was forced to bale out, this time landing on Pitsea Marshes in Essex.
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Hemingway, in shirt sleeves, second right, with comrades
Flying from Croydon, the squadron was in constant action. On August 31, Hemingway attacked a Bf 109 and saw white smoke pour from the aircraft, but he had to break away. By the end of September, the exhausted squadron withdrew to the north to re-build and convert into a night-fighter squadron under the command of Townsend.
John Allman Hemingway, always known as “Paddy”, was born in Dublin on July 17 1919, and educated at St Andrew’s College in the city. He joined the RAF on a short service commission in April 1938.
After the Battle of Britain, No 85 continued to fly the single-seat Hurricane but in the spring of 1941 it began to re-equip with the US-built Havoc aircraft. This was fitted with an air-intercept radar operated by a specialist.
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Hemingway, second right, with fellow airmen
During patrols on consecutive nights in May Hemingway intercepted and damaged two Heinkel III bombers. In July he was awarded the DFC and shortly afterwards was Mentioned in Despatches.
He served on experimental night fighter units and as a fighter controller, before returning to operations in early 1945 in command of No 43 Squadron in Italy. The Germans were retreating, and Hemingway was determined to “help them with their retreat”.
On April 23, having destroyed a truck with his bomb, he returned to strafe other vehicles when his Spitfire was hit by ground fire. The rudder became useless, the cockpit filled with smoke and the engine began to fail. He climbed to 2,000 feet and baled out for the third time.
On landing he was chased by German soldiers, but eventually he lost them and reached a farmhouse where he was cared for by the partisans and was “fed with plenty of wine”. He was disguised in peasant clothing, and a little girl from the locality took his hand and guided him past German positions to the safety of the Allied lines, where he met up with an armoured car and returned to the squadron.
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Hemingway’s 85 Squadron moved to France on the outbreak of war
Hemingway recalled some 70 years later that he was more frightened for the life of that small child than for his own safety, and he never forgot her.
Ground-attack sorties continued to be flown until the 30th, when the war in Italy came to an end. During May the squadron moved to Austria, where Hemingway remained in command until the end of 1945, when he moved to Greece as a member of the RAF Delegation.
He remained in the RAF, and in May 1953 assumed command of No 32 Squadron in Egypt flying Vampire jet fighters. He later served in Nato appointments in Paris and at the Air Ministry. He was the station commander at RAF Leconfield, a fighter airfield in East Yorkshire, and at the beginning of 1966 he oversaw the transition of the base into a maintenance unit. His last two years of service were with the combined planning staffs, and he retired as a group captain in September 1969.
Hemingway was a modest man who lived a quiet life in his later years. Approaching his 101st birthday, he agreed to speak to The Daily Telegraph. Once he became aware that he was the last of “The Few”, he admitted that it was an unwanted honour bestowed upon him and one that had drawn him closer to the ghosts of his fallen comrades.
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Hemingway celebrating his 105th birthday at the British Embassy in Dublin, when portraits by Dan Llywelyn Hall were unveiled Credit: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
“During the war,” he said, “all my closest friends were killed, and my memories and thoughts about them I have always regarded as a private affair.” He added that “being the last of the Battle of Britain veterans has made me think of those times 80 years ago.”
At a reception at the British Embassy in Dublin to celebrate his 105th birthday, he said: “I am here because I had the staggering luck to fight alongside great pilots, flying magnificent aircraft , with the best ground crew, in the best air force in the world.”
His son Brian said: “He was not particularly interested in the past. Like so many of his generation, he doesn’t feel as though he did anything special. But he liked the idea that he was last Irishman to have fought in the Battle.”
Paddy Hemingway’s wife Bridget predeceased him; they had two sons and a daughter.
Paddy Hemingway, born July 17 1919, died March 17 2025
