Wing Commander Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane
Seventy years ago this week (15 July 1942), Wing Commander Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane DSO, DFC** (1920-1942) died when he ditched his Spitfire Mk V off the French coast north of Le Touquet. He had taken a round through his radiator, fired by a German gunner on a beach sand dune, as he led the Hornchurch Wing in to attack the German Army camp at Etaples. Paddy had timed the attack for lunchtime, and had claimed for himself the target of the Officer's Mess.
His plans were thwarted by the damage to his Merlin's cooling system, and he immediately did a 180, followed by his wingman, Flt Lt Al Aikman, who found himself nicely lined up on the solitary beach gunner as he rolled out of his turn. A squirt on the gun button redressed matters somewhat.
Paddy failed to escape from his cockpit, & may well have knocked himself out on the gunsight.
He overtook Douglas Bader's score (by now he was a POW) & became the RAF's highest scoring ace at that time, with a final total of 32 victories. He was a fearless leader & a terrific shot, once scoring a kill (Fw190) from 500yds with some considerable deflection (26 March 42). On his best day, he downed x3 Me109's in one sortie (20 Sep 41).
In June 1942, he was promoted Wing Commander & OC Hornchurch Spitfire Wing, age 21yrs. He held this post for only 19 days, before his death.
I flew close to his ditching spot a few weeks ago, on a commercial pax flight; looking out of the window at an impossibly blue sky & sea, I thought of my fellow Irishman and his Spitfire somewhere below the calm Channel waters. Hope you are having a good pint of the Black Stuff somewhere, Wing Commander Finucane.
HB
Last edited by Halton Brat; 19th Jul 2012 at 18:04.
Reason: decorations added....