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Further to the discussion in the chatbox following Geoffrey Wellum's passing, it appears my information was not correct - The surviving pilots who fought during the summer of 1940 are; Flt Lt William Terence Clark DFM - 219 Squadron - Blenheims Wing Co John Francis Durham Elkington - 1 Squadron - Hurricanes Wing Co Paul Caswell Farnes DFM - 501 Squadron - Hurricanes Squadron Leader J. S. Hart - 602 (Canadian), 54, 81 and 602 Squadrons F/O John Allman Hemingway DFC - 86 Squadron - Hurricanes Flt Lt William Robert Kent Hughes DFC, AE - 23 Squadron - Blenheims Flt Lt Ronald MacKay - 234 Squadron - Spitfires (Not verified - if he is still alive he is 108!) Flt Lt Archibald McInnes - 601 & 238 Squadrons - Hurricanes Flt Lt Maurice Hewlett Mounsdon - 56 Squadron - Hurricanes Thought this might be of interest.

Stuka loopy with Sid and AP tonight.

He was indeed Arthur - he was promoted to F/O in July 1941. Interestingly he was shot down and wounded by Helmut Wick on the 16th August 1940, not returning to active service until the 1st October.

The convention in these things is to accord the rank you held when your service comes to an end FT. He almost certainly would have been a P/O during the BoB - it's the lowest rank of RAF commissioned officer. Wing Commander Elkington of 1 Squadron would almost certainly have been a P/O during the BoB too.

I think the Spit campaign was/is to give us practice/confidence in flying the Spit. But I need more practice to get to the level of airmanship to be able to fly the campaign to get the practice and....... around and around we go ?!