John 'Paddy' Hemingway DFC
1920-2025
![[Linked Image]](https://raf.mod.uk/sites/raf-beta/assets/Hemingway/Group_Captain_John_Paddy_Hemingway_105th_Birthday_celebration.JPG)
John "Paddy" Hemingway, the last surviving pilot of the iconic Battle of Britain, passed away peacefully on 17 March 2025 at the age of 105.
Paddy Hemingway, one of a number known as ‘the Few’ and revered figures in British aviation history, played a crucial role in defending the United Kingdom against Nazi oppression during the summer of 1940. His courage in the face of overwhelming odds demonstrated his sense of duty and the importance of British resilience.
![[Linked Image]](https://raf.mod.uk/sites/raf-beta/assets/Hemingway/Group_Captain_John_Paddy_Hemingway_DFC.jpg)
John Allman ‘Paddy’ Hemingway was the last Battle of France and Battle of Britain (last of “The Few”) pilot. He never saw his role in the Battle of Britain as anything other than doing the job he was trained to do. He didn’t see it as an epoch-making moment in the history of the RAF or the United Kingdom.
https://raf.mod.uk/news/articles/th...ot-john-paddy-hemingway-dfc-passes-away/They are now all gone ...
High Flight
"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
– Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
