March 18 (UPI) -- The last surviving Royal Air Force fighter pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain in 1940 during World War II has died. He was 105 years old.
Announcing the death of John "Paddy" Hemmingway on X on Monday night, the RAF simply said it had lost the last of "the few" and thanked him for his sacrifices more than 80 years ago, signing off with the service's official motto, "Through Adversity to the Stars."
Hemmingway, originally from Ireland, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1941 for his heroism in the skies over southern Britain in the summer and fall of 1940 as the RAF fought off Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe sent to destroy Britain's air defenses in preparation for a ground invasion.
"It is with great sadness that I heard of the passing of John 'Paddy' Hemingway today. I am thankful that I was able to meet and spend time with him in Dublin, most recently in January this year. Paddy was an amazing character whose life story embodies all that was and remains great about the Royal Air Force," Air Chief Marshall Sir Rich Knighton, Chief of the Air Staff, said in a news release.
"Throughout his life he inspired those he knew and served with. My thoughts are with his family and all those who cared for him over the past few years."
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was saddened to hear of the death of Hemmingway.
"His courage, and that of all RAF pilots, helped end WWII and secure our freedom. We will never forget their bravery and service. Thank you, John 'Paddy' Hemingway," he wrote in a post on his X account.
Piloting a Hawker Hurricane in Fighter Command's famous "11 Group," Hemmingway served in one of a handful of frontline squadrons scrambled, sometimes several times daily, to intercept thousands of enemy aircraft crossing the southern and eastern coasts of England.
During fierce dogfights in August 1940, Hemmingway was twice shot down but was able to bail out before his Hurricane crashed, once into the sea and into marshland on the second occasion, in a struggle that became known as the Battle of Britain, so-called because had the RAF failed, it would have cleared the path for Adolf Hilter's "Operation Sea Lion" plan for a full-scale invasion of Britain.
In the end, the RAF inflicted so much damage to the Luftwaffe that Hitler shelved his invasion plan buying the Allies time to regroup, rearm and ultimately prevail.
"The few" moniker was coined by Winston Churchill in his famous "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few," speech to Parliament in August 1940 lauding the sacrifice of the less than 3,000 fighter pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain and whose average age was just 20.
In addition to his DFC, which was awarded "in recognition of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy in the air," Hemmingway was mentioned in dispatches in September 1941 and was featured on a wartime cover of Life magazine.
Earlier in 1940 during the Nazi invasion of France, Hemmingway also flew combat missions with Squadron 85 providing fighter cover, including strafing attacks, air patrols and dogfights, enabling more than 338,000 encircled troops in the British Expeditionary Force and other allied troops to be evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk in what became known as the "Battle for France."
In early May, Hemmingway was recorded as shooting down a Heinkel bomber and a Dornier bomber on consecutive days but had to make a forced landing on the second occasion after being hit by German anti-aircraft fire. During an 11-day period, Squadron 85 was credited with at least 90 confirmed "kills."
Hemmingway had numerous other close calls, including escaping from a Bristol Blenheim aircraft that was bringing him to London to be awarded his DFC by King George VI at Buckingham Palace after it crashed on take-off and his parachute failing to open when he bailed out at night from a U.S.-made A-20 Havoc fighter at 600 feet.
He was injured but survived because his fall was arrested after his part-opened chute caught in the branches of a tree.
In a Mediterranean Allied Air Forces attack on German forces near Ravenna in northeastern Italy in April 1945, Hemmingway bailed out behind German lines after his Spitfire fighter took multiple hits from anti-aircraft fire, parachuting into enemy territory where he was rescued by Italian resistance fighters who helped get him back to 324 Wing.
He told the BBC in an interview in 2023 that he put his survival and subsequent long life down to the bravery of people who helped him in Italy and "the luck of the Irish."
"It must be to do with something like that because here I am, an Irishman, talking to you. I was shot down many times but I'm still here. So many others were shot down first time and that was the end of them," he said.
"I was lucky. And I'm still lucky."
Hemmingway, who joined the Royal Air Force in 1938 at the age of 19, retired from the service with the rank of Group Captain in 1969.