Ireland’s only surviving Battle of Britain pilot, John Allman Hemingway, is an exceptionally lucky man. He was shot down four times during the second World War, twice in a single month, and on one occasion he bailed out over the sea – a veritable death sentence for many fellow RAF airmen. By the time a rescue boat reached him, John was “rolling in the waves”, as he himself put it, with a hint of dark humour.
Like many fighter pilots who survived the Battle of Britain, along with the five years of gruelling aerial campaigns that followed, John often felt death tugging at his elbow.
John was born in Dublin in 1919 and was initially educated at St Patrick’s Cathedral Choir School, where he was a “very unsuccessful choirboy”, and later attended St Andrew’s College.
His motive for joining the RAF was remarkably arbitrary. He had no plans for the future when he left school, and during a summer holiday with his family in Greystones his father prevailed upon him to choose a career. In December 1938, John was taken to London, given a medical examination and was then offered a four-year short service commission.
In January 1939, John began training in Yorkshire, and after a period in a flight training school, Pilot Officer Hemingway was posted to No 85 Squadron in Debden, flying Hurricanes.
When the war broke out, John’s squadron was sent to Rouen in northern France and would form part of No 60 Fighter Wing of the Advanced Air Striking Force, providing air support to the British Expeditionary Force. On May 11th, 1940, during the Battle of France, John claimed his first kill, a German Dornier Do 77 light bomber which he helped to shoot down. Later that same day, John was himself brought down by enemy anti-aircraft fire and had to make a forced landing in a field. He was one of the first RAF pilots to shoot down an enemy aircraft over Europe, and was also one of the first to be shot down.
During the Battle of Britain, he was shot down twice during the month of August. The first time was while intercepting a flight of Junkers Ju 88s around 20 miles off Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, and he narrowly avoided drowning before being rescued.
The second instance was over Eastchurch in Kent while attacking Dornier bombers. While turning around to have a “second go”, John’s aircraft was damaged by Dornier air gunners and bailed out over Pitsea marshes where the local Home Guard picked him up. By late September No 85 Squadron had to be withdrawn from battle since they had lost 11 pilots in action. John was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in July 1941, and was mentioned in dispatches.
John’s commanding officer was Peter Townsend, who was later vilified by the British press for his attempt to marry Princess Margaret. He described Townsend as a quietly spoken man and a “first-class wartime leader in a fighter squadron” who looked after his men and was good at recognising the signs of battle fatigue. John was declared A4HBH (grounded) for two years after an incident at West Malling where he began hallucinating while flying a Magister. He spent the interim as a flight controller, but he was always keen to back flying.
He eventually got his wish when he was posted to Italy in 1945 as a squadron leader commanding No 43 Squadron. At that time German occupational forces were retreating and John was “helping them with their retreat”. During a strafing attack on a German column near Ravenna, his Spitfire was hit by ground fire and he bailed out behind enemy lines. He was cared for by Italian partisans, and after being disguised in peasant clothing, a little girl from the locality took his hand and guided him past German positions to the safety of the Allied lines. John 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.
John Hemingway is now one of the last members of “The Few” who defended Britain in her darkest hour and is one of only a handful of surviving Irish veterans who volunteered to fight the Nazis during the second World War.
He currently lives in Wicklow and recently celebrated his 96th birthday, a fine innings for a man who risked so much for so many.