Modest Battle of Britain hero dies aged 99
BATTLE of Britain hero Nigel Rose – one of the last of “The Few” – has died aged 99, his family revealed yesterday.
The squadron leader, who shot down four German planes, survived being attacked by a Messerschmitt 110 over the Channel.
He later said it “made rather a mess of the Spitfire”, adding: “I thought I had to get out. But then I decided I could get back. I landed with no brakes, flaps or radio.”
His daughter, bestselling novelist Barbara Erskine, said he was modest and reticent to the point of not claiming his combat hits.
Ms Erskine consulted her father when she wrote her novel The Darkest Hour about the experiences and emotions of a wartime pilot.
She said: “At first dad was reluctant, terribly modest, but in the end he happily recalled his experiences, which helped me enormously.”
After the war Sqn Ldr Rose became a chartered surveyor and settled in Hay-on-Wye in Breconshire.
His death leaves only a handful of veterans from the Battle of Britain, of whom Winston Churchill said: “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”