Hero pilot helped propel country to war victory
As the nation prepares to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, we welcome a contribution this week from local historian ADRIAN HENSTOCK, telling the story of his late father, Ashbourne’s own Battle of Britain fighter pilot, Squadron Leader Lawrence Henstock
LAWRENCE (Laurie) Frederick Henstock was born in Ashbourne in 1912, the son of Frederick Henstock, editor of the Ashbourne Telegraph, and nephew of the paper’s founder Joseph Henstock.
He followed his father in attending Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School and began work with the family firm but soon developed a passion for flying after he took a trip in an Avro 504K bi-plane which was offering pleasure flights from fields on Mayfield Road in 1930.
In 1936 he was commissioned as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force and flew Hawker Fury and Gloster Gladiator bi-planes with 72 Squadron before transferring to the new Spitfire fighters in 1939. He piloted one of twelve aircraft which staged a fly-past at the opening of Derby Airport in May 1939.
During World War II he flew Spitfires with 64 Squadron in the Battle of Britain of August and September 1940.
He fought several engagements with Dornier bombers in sorties over the English Channel from bases at Kenley in Surrey and Hawkinge in Kent.
He shot down several German aircraft and survived numerous narrow escapes, including landing at Kenley airfield as it was being bombed.
In 1940 he was photographed being “scrambled” to get his Spitfire into the air for a feature on ‘A Day with a Fighter Squadron’ in the popular magazine Picture Post.
Latterly he was posted to aerodromes all over England and Scotland. On occasions when his flights took him near Ashbourne he would make a (quite illegal) low pass in his Spitfire above Church Street.
The unmistakable roar of the Rollsroyce Merlin engine alerted his mother, living at Savings Bank House, to run into the garden and wave a tea-towel as he executed a return pass and a “victory roll” before carrying on his way !
His name is recorded as one of “The Few” on the two national Battle of Britain Memorials - on Westminster Embankment in London and on the white cliffs of Dover.
He retired from the RAF at the end of the war with the rank of Squadron Leader and in 1949, along with the Bishop of Derby, unveiled the War Memorial at Queen Elizabeth’s in memory of the 16 old boys who died in the conflict.
After the war he was employed as a technical author with Rolls-royce in Derby and, following retirement, ran a small antique map and print shop in Church Street. He died in 1981 and is commemorated on his widow’s gravestone in the cemetery.
● Adrian Henstock is well known as a local historian who wrote a history of the town for the Ashbourne Treasures celebration in 2017.