The last surviving pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain during World War II has died aged 105, the UK’s Royal Air Force said.
John “Paddy” Hemingway “passed away peacefully” on Monday, the RAF said late that evening.
It described his death as “the end of an era”.
Hemingway was among the pilots known as “The Few” for their role in the seminal 1940 air battle that defended Britain against major attacks from Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe.
British wartime prime minister Winston Churchill coined the term.
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few,” he said of the men’s sacrifice.
Heir-to-the-throne Prince William and Prime Minister Keir Starmer were among those to lead tributes to Hemingway, who won a medal for bravery.
“We owe so much to Paddy and his generation for our freedoms today,” Prince William wrote in a statement shared on social media on Tuesday.
“Their bravery and sacrifice will always be remembered. We shall never forget them.”
‘Thoughtful and mischievous’
Born in 1919 in Dublin, Ireland, which was then a part of the United Kingdom, Hemingway enlisted in the RAF in 1938, a year before war broke out in Europe.
In 1940, he downed a German Luftwaffe plane but his Hurricane fighter was hit by anti-aircraft fire and he had to make a forced landing, according to the RAF.
In the summer of that year he then became one of the frontline pilots responding to daily attacks from German aircraft, which became known as the Battle of Britain.
During intense dogfights in August 1940, Hemingway was forced to bail out of his Hurricanes twice, landing once in the sea and another time in marshland.
Hemingway later received the Distinguished Flying Cross medal for valour.
“Eighty years ago, the courage and determination of Paddy and all our brave RAF pilots helped bring an end to the Second World War,” Starmer said.
“He never considered himself a hero and often referred to himself as the ‘Lucky Irishman’, a man simply doing his job, like so many others of his generation.
“Their sense of duty and service secured our freedom and we shall never forget them,” Starmer added.
Hemingway went on to serve as an air fighter controller during D-Day operations in northern France in 1944, which paved the way for the liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany.
The RAF described him as a “quiet, composed, thoughtful and mischievous individual” who “embodied the spirit of all those who flew sorties” over Britain.
His death was “a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by those who fought for freedom during World War II,” the air force added.
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