AA27609 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I - RAF No.601 - P/O 'Billy' Fiske (Battle of Britain 85)

When Britain stood alone and needed the young men of the Royal Air Force to stand against the might of the all-conquering Luftwaffe, many airmen answered that call, not all of them native to these shores. American Pilot Officer William Meade Lindsay ‘Billy’ Fiske III was born in New York in June 1911, and by the time he volunteered to join the Royal Air Force in August 1939, he was already a national hero back in his homeland. 

In 1928, Fiske was the driver of the US five-man Olympic bobsleigh team that won gold at the St. Moritz games, and at the age of just 16, also became the youngest ever gold medal-winning Olympian, a record that stood until 1992. Impressively, he repeated the feat four years later at the Lake Placid games. 

On joining the RAF, Fiske believed that he was the first US citizen to join the force after the outbreak of hostilities, something he was extremely proud of. Tragically, Fiske lost his life on 17th August 1940, the day after he and the rest of No.601 Squadron had been sent to challenge a force of Junkers Ju-87 Stukas which had been sent to attack his home airfield at Tangmere. 

With his engine seized, he managed to crash land back at his home airfield, but was still in the cockpit when the Hurricane burst into flames.