In a Spanish flea market, helmet of WW2 ace who shot down 29 Germans
HE WAS one of Britain’s greatest heroes of the Second World War – an RAF ace who shot down 29 enemy aircraft, becoming the country’s most decorated fighter pilot of the conflict.
Group Captain John ‘Bob’ ’ Braham, who claimed 19 of his s ‘kills’ at night, was awarded the e Distinguished Service Orderr and the Distinguished Flying g Cross – each three times.
Despite his astonishing g achievements, Braham is described as ‘the forgotten airir ace’ and now, to add to his is mystique, what is believed to be his leather flying helmet has as been discovered – on sale in a Spanish flea market.
Antiques collector Jose Ferernandez was trawling through gh a market on the Costa del Sol when a friend snapped up the helmet for €15 – just under £13.
Recognising it as an authentic Second World War relic, Mr Fernandez, 43, persuaded his friend to part with it for €60, or about £50.
But it was only when he got home and found an original document listing campaign medals with the initials of Group Capt Braham tucked inside the helmet that he realised who its original owner could be.
Last night Mr Fernandez said he was trying to authenticate the precious item, which comes complete with its oxygen mask and radio plug, by speaking to the RAF and antiques experts in Britain.
The Malaga-based antiques enthusiast said: ‘The stallholder didn’t have a clue what it was. He said friends had given it to him.
‘It wasn’t until I got home and had a proper look at it that I discovered a docu- ment inside with the initials J.R.D.B. on it. After doing some research on the internet, I came to the conclusion that it must have belonged to the RAF pilot John Braham.’ The Mail on Sunday tracked down Braham’s eldest son Mike, 75, a retired Canadian naval officer from Ottawa, who said: ‘I’d love to know the helmet’s story. Obviously it’s impossible to know if it was his, but it’s certainly the right vintage. ‘The initials on the paper are certainly my father’s but it doesn’t look like his writing. He was shot down over Denmark in 1944, so there are any number of ways the equipment could have found its way to Spain in the intervening decades.’ Braham was Britain’s most successful pilot in twin-engine aircraft. His nighttime tally was bettered only by Wing Commander Branse Burbridge, who holds the Allied record of 21 after-dark kills.
Braham’s first airborne victory occurred during the Battle of Britain in August 1940. He flew Mosquitos, Blenheims, Hurricanes and Beaufighters.
His war came to an end on June 24, 1944, when he was downed by German fighters and became a prisoner of war until freed in May 1945.
Years later, one of the men who shot him down, Robert Spreckels, contacted him and the pair met for a drink. In his 1961 autobiography Scramble!, Braham wrote: ‘In spite of world tension and hatreds my very personal ex-enemy is now counted among my company of close friends.’
Braham died aged 53 of a brain tumour in 1974 in Canada, where he emigrated to with his family after the war. Mike Braham has written a biography called My Father, The Forgotten Air Ace, available on Amazon.