One of the last surviving Battle of Britain Spitfire pilots, Ken Wilkinson, has died, keeping a twinkle in his eye and a taste for red wine and blue jokes to the end.
Wilkinson, who celebrated his 99th birthday in June, was one of the last of those dubbed “The Few” by Winston Churchill, at a time when the life expectancy of a Spitfire pilot was about four weeks.
The former pilot jokingly rebuked Prince William for “flying choppers” instead of “proper planes” recently, and after admitting that he had promised not to tell any of his extensive repertoire of dirty jokes, agreed to recount one by royal command.
The Battle of Britain Memorial trust described Fg Off Kenneth Astill Wilkinson as “a true gentleman who we shall miss dearly”.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, the chief of air staff, said: “Ken, as one of The Few, represented an extraordinary generation to whom we owe a great debt that should never be forgotten, our freedom being won by their sacrifices.”
Although he never forgot the horrors of the combat, recalling in one interview watching “friends fall out of the sky, aircraft go up in flames ...terrible things”, Wilkinson was fondly remembered by friends and acquaintances for his sense of humour.
Deborah Burns, whose late husband, Flt Lt Owen Burns, was also a Battle of Britain veteran, recalled Wilkinson as one of “the Brylcreem Boys with a twinkle in their eyes”.
In an interview in 2015 Wilkinson said: “I didn’t carry any lucky charms, but I did wear a pair of my wife’s knickers around my neck.”
He met the Duke of Cambridge in the same year, at an event marking the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and confided he was “under instructions” not to turn the air blue. Prompted, he recounted the story of Joe, who insisted on being addressed by full title after promotion to high office at his golf club, hopping into bed with his wife and announcing himself as the Captain. She responds: “You have to be quick, Joe will be home soon.”
Wilkinson, who worked as a chartered surveyor in Birmingham after the war, was the son of an aircraft manufacturer in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and became fascinated by flying while watching aircraft tests at Farnborough. He joined the RAF at the outbreak of the second world war and flew Spitfires with 616 and 19 Squadrons, on missions protecting industrial sites in the Midlands.
Frank Crosby, an author and heritage consultant who knew Wilkinson through working at the Imperial War Museum’s Duxford site, said the veteran once offered to contribute to a whip-round for his own funeral wreath, on learning of the death of a pilot namesake.
“Their way of surviving was hardening themselves to what happened around them. But he was very aware of the men who died around him in the sky. He would talk about them and he wouldn’t get sentimental about them, but he never forgot.”
Former RAF navigator John Nichol, who was shot down and captured during the first Gulf war in 1991, tweeted a tribute to Wilkinson:
Very sad to learn that Battle Britain Spitfire pilot Ken Wilkinson has died aged 99. He was a true gentleman & loved a glass of red. RIP Sir pic.twitter.com/n7wvcd6hSL
— John Nichol (@JohnNicholRAF) August 1, 2017
