Paddy Finucane, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Paddy Finucane

British RAF officer killed in action

Date of Birth: 16-Oct-1920

Place of Birth: Rathmines, Leinster, Ireland

Date of Death: 15-Jul-1942

Profession: fighter pilot

Nationality: Ireland

Zodiac Sign: Libra


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About Paddy Finucane

  • For other people with a similar name, see Patrick Finucane (disambiguation). Wing Commander Brendan Eamonn Fergus Finucane, (16 October 1920 – 15 July 1942), known as Paddy Finucane amongst his colleagues, was a Second World War Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilot and flying ace—defined as an aviator credited with five or more enemy aircraft destroyed in aerial combat. Born into a Catholic family in Ireland of Irish and English heritage, Finucane grew up during the "early troubles" and the Irish Civil War.
  • In 1936, the family moved to England, where he developed an interest in aviation.
  • Keen to fly, Finucane applied to join the RAF and in August 1938, was accepted for flight training as a pilot.
  • After a shaky training career, in which he crash-landed on one occasion, he received news that he had completed flight training.
  • In June–July 1940, he began conversion training on the Supermarine Spitfire.
  • On 13 July, Finucane was posted to No.
  • 65 Squadron at RAF Hornchurch. Finucane's first victory was scored on 12 August 1940 during the Battle of Britain.
  • During the campaign, he was credited with two enemies destroyed, two probably destroyed and one damaged.
  • Promoted to acting flight lieutenant in April 1941, he joined No.
  • 452 Squadron flying offensive patrols over France—known as the Circus offensive.
  • During this period, Finucane had his most successful period of operations, destroying 20 German aircraft, sharing in the destruction of three, with two damaged and another two probably destroyed from 4 January to 13 October 1941.In January 1942, Finucane was promoted to the rank of squadron leader in No.
  • 602 Squadron.
  • Within six months, he was credited a further six individual victories bringing his tally to 28.
  • Four more were damaged, four were shared destroyed and two credited as individual probable victories and one shared probable.
  • In June 1942, he became the RAF's youngest wing commander in its history.
  • Finucane was appointed to lead the Hornchurch Wing. On 15 July 1942, Finucane took off with his flight for a mission over France.
  • His Spitfire was damaged by ground-fire.
  • Finucane attempted to fly back to England across the English Channel but was forced to ditch into the sea and subsequently vanished.
  • After his death, Finucane's brother Raymond served in No.
  • 101 Squadron RAF and survived the war.Finucane was credited with 28 aerial victories, five probably destroyed, six shared destroyed, one shared probable victory, and eight damaged.
  • Included in his total were 23 Messerschmitt Bf 109s, four Focke-Wulf Fw 190s and one Messerschmitt Bf 110.
  • Official records differ over the exact total.
  • After the war, two of Finucane's victories that were credited as probables had, in fact, been destroyed, but were not officially included.
  • His total victory count could be as high as 32.
  • Some sources credit him this figure.

Read more at Wikipedia

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