ONE of the last surviving pilots whose immense bravery defended Britain against Nazi tyranny has died aged 101.
The death of Flt Lt Maurice Mounsdon reduces the number of Battle of Britain heroes – The Few – to just three .
He was one of the 3,000 airmen whose courage in the skies over southern England defeated Hitler’s Luftwaffe and halted the dictator’s invasion plans.
The three-and-a-half month battle in 1940 would claim the lives of 544 RAF pilots and aircrew. Pilots’ average life expectancy was just four weeks.
Maurice, with 56 Squadron, nearly became one of that number in the August when his Hawker Hurricane took off from RAF North Weald in Essex.
The 22-year-old had already shot down four enemy aircraft in fierce dogfights. He recalled the moment he was hit by a cannon shell from a Messerschmitt 109 while over Colchester.
Despite severe burns to his arms and legs, Maurice was able to flip his plane and bail out.
He said: “I was on fire. There was only one thing to do and that was to get out as fast as possible.
“I was badly burned, but I rolled the aircraft over and came down by parachute from 14,000ft.
He was rescued by local people and taken to hospital, where he would meet his future wife, Mary.
While convalescing in hospital he underwent pioneering skin grafts performed by Archibald McIndoe, the founder of the patient support group Guinea Pig Club.
Maurice, originally from Lichfield, Staffs, married Mary in 1941 and spent the rest of the Second World War as a flight instructor.
The couple, who never had children, moved to the Spanish island of Menorca in the late 70s. Mary died in 1993 and Maurice passed away on Friday.
His nephew Adrian told the Daily Mirror: “He was a great man and will be missed by his nephews and nieces.”
Three of The Few are alive: Flt Lt William Clark, 100, originally from Croydon, South London, Wing Co Paul Farnes, 101, of West Sussex, and Dublin-born Flying Officer John Hemingway, 100.
Winston Churchill summed up their bravery when he said: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
John Pulfer, of the Battle of Britain Historical Society, said: “They didn’t know when they left the ground if they would be coming back. Their stories are incredible.”
