David Ince
Typhoon pilot who carried out low-level ground attacks and later became a champion glider
DAVID INCE, who has died aged 96, flew Typhoon ground attack fighters in support of the Allied armies’ advance into Germany; he later became a top competitor in British national gliding championships.
Ince arrived at an advanced airstrip in Normandy in July 1944 when he joined No 193 Squadron. It was the beginning of a period of intense fighting in support of the British and Canadian armies as they fought to break out of the beachhead. Dive bombing enemy gun positions and transport columns, Ince and his fellow Typhoon pilots wreaked havoc as the German forces were eventually forced to retreat into the Low Countries.
Ince and his squadron moved to Antwerp for the harsh winter of 1944/45 to attack the German Panzers. He also flew photographic reconnaissance sorties to assess the damage caused by the Typhoon bombers. The anti-aircraft defences were intense and the casualty rate was high. Dive-bombing over Rotterdam, Ince’s aircraft was hit by flak and oil covered the windscreen. With his engine about to fail, he managed to land at an emergency strip.
Promoted to be a flight commander on No 257 Squadron, he continued flying low-level operations until the end of the war. He led sorties seeking out the supply routes for the V-2 rocket and its mobile launch sites and he was the first RAF pilot to test the napalm bomb and lead the only RAF attack using the weapon in Europe. After flying in support of the Rhine crossing, Ince attacked targets deep into Germany and he led his last attack against shipping in the Baltic Sea. He had been on continuous operations for nine months and flown almost 150 sorties, earning him the DFC.
The son of Major Douglas Ince MC, David Henry Gason Ince was born in Glasgow on March 23 1921 and educated at Cheltenham College where he was a member of the OTC. He joined the Army and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery. Home defence duties did not appeal, however, and he volunteered to be seconded to the RAF to train as a pilot.
After training in Canada he returned to fly fighter reconnaissance aircraft. Initially he flew Mustangs and was preparing to spot naval gunfire in the build up to the D-day landings when he joined No 193 Squadron.
After the war, Ince joined No 4 Course at the Empire Rest Pilot’s School, but developed acute sinusitis and decided to leave the RAF as a flight lieutenant. During this period he became acquainted with military and civil gliders.
He joined Elliott Brothers, the advanced electronics company, and spent many years in the marketing division when the company provided support for many of the RAF’S Cold War jet aircraft. After becoming the assistant general manager for exports, he supported the BAC 1-111 programme. He was later head hunted by a light engineering and electromechanical group dealing primarily with livestock equipment.
In the late 1940s Ince established a number of national gliding records, including the first 500km flight. He competed in his first British championship in 1949 and his last was in 1974. At one stage he was the national aerobatic champion and was the reserve for the British national team in the World championships from 1952 to 1960.
He was a long time instructor of the Midland Gliding Club and for many years was the test pilot for the British glider manufacturer Elliott’s of Newbury. He also served on the council of the British Gliding Association and on several other committees.
He gave up gliding when he was 79 having gained the highest award, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale’s Gold Badge with three diamonds.
In August 1954 he married Anne Burton, a British Horse Society dressage judge. She also supported Ince in his gliding competitions, acting as his crew, and later became the gliding correspondent for The Daily Telegraph.
After her death in 1993, Ince trained as a lay pastor and was a lay member of the Benefice Standing Committee for eight years. He also took up painting in watercolours and, after giving up gliding, turned to fly fishing for trout.
He was a staunch supporter of the Typhoon & Tempest Association and chairman of the Typhoon Entente Cordiale Trust. He visited Normandy on numerous occasions for reunions at the memorial at Noyers Bocage, which bears the names of 150 Typhoon pilots lost in Normandy.
His book, Combat and Competition, was published in 1992 and this was followed by Brotherhood of the Skies (2010), which concentrates on his wartime experiences.
His two daughters survive him.