Fought in the Battle of Britain
bombers were attacking Swansea, he took off in a Hawker Henley target tug, armed only with a flare pistol and chased a Junkers 88 bomber.
He fired a flare at the raider, which was enough to convince him that Wales was to be left alone.
Also among the aircrew fighting in the battle from the county was Pilot Officer Donald Ballantine Hardy Mchardy of Llandeilo.
He joined the RAF in 1938 and flew Hurricane fighters with 229 Squadron from Digby.
He destroyed a He111 bomber on September 27, but while patrolling on October 26, Mchardy’s flight pursued German Me109 fighters to the coast of France near Boulogne, and he was attacked and force-landed in France and was taken prisoner.
Flying Officer John Mansel-lewis from Pembrey
flew Spitfires with 92 Squadron at Biggin Hill on September 16 destroying a Do17 bomber on the 27th and a Me109 fighter on December 1.
In early March 1941 Mansel-lewis was killed when his aircraft crashed in Singapore.
Llanelli man
Robert
William Meade Walsh was a pilot in the Royal Navy but on completion of his flying training Sub Lt Walsh was seconded to the RAF on June 29, 1940.
He joined 142 Squadron, flying Fairey Battle light bombers at Eastchurch but moved to 111 Squadron at Drem in Scotland
on 22 September who were flying Hurricance fighters.
Airfields in West Wales also supported the RAF’S effort during the Battle of Britain.
RAF Pembrey provided Wales’ sole fighter defence during the Battle. The squadrons defended the country against air attack and protected shipping convoys.
No. 92 Squadron were withdrawn to Pembrey for a rest in June 1940, following intense air fighting over France.
Between trips to the Carmarthenshire beaches and drinks at the Stepney Hotel, Llanelli, pilots flew defensive patrols in their Spitfires, engaging with any intruders.
Their first Battle of Britain victory came on July 24, with three pilots intercepting a Junkers 88 bomber over Ilfracombe, Devonshire, sending it down in flames.
No. 92 Squadron fighter ace, Flight Lieutenant Bob Stanford-tuck, had already contributed to the destruction of seven enemy aircraft. But he almost lost his life flying from Pembrey. On 25 August, his aircraft was hit in combat off the Pembrokeshire coast. He forcelanded near St Govan’s Head.
Air Commodore Adrian Williams, Wales’ most senior RAF Officer, said: “In this 80th year commemoration of the Battle, we remember the ‘Welsh Few,’ 67 men from all corners of Wales, who served with distinction in the air and made a significant and gallant contribution to the Battle of Britain.
“They were part of the 2,947 aircrew from Britain, the Commonwealth and many other countries who fought in the battle.
“We remember too, the vital part played by RAF bases in Wales in supplying pilots and aircraft in that desperate struggle during the long hot summer of 1940.
“That role played by the RAF in Wales in protecting the skies above Britain continues today.”