Eric Stanley Lock
Flight Lieutenant · 81642 · United Kingdom
- Died
- 3 August 1941
- Fate
- Killed in action
Biography
Eric Stanley Lock was born on 19 April 1919 at Bayston Hill, near Shrewsbury in Shropshire, the son of a farmer and quarry owner. He learned to fly with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve before the war and was called up in 1939, reaching No. 41 Squadron in time for the Battle of Britain. Flying Spitfires from RAF Hornchurch, he proved an exceptional shot: over the autumn of 1940 he was credited with more enemy aircraft than any other British-born pilot of the battle, a tally that eventually reached twenty-six confirmed. His success was recognised with the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar and then the Distinguished Service Order, all gazetted within a few months.
In November 1940 Lock was severely wounded by cannon fire and badly burned, and spent months under the reconstructive surgeon Archibald McIndoe at East Grinstead — one of the airmen who became members of the ‘Guinea Pig Club’. He fought his way back to operational flying and in the summer of 1941 returned as a flight commander with No. 611 Squadron. On 3 August 1941, returning from a sweep over the French coast, he dived to strafe German troops near the Pas-de-Calais and was never seen again; neither he nor his Spitfire was ever found. He was 22, and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Forces News — Sawn-Off Lockie: Our Greatest Ace?, Shropshire Star — Great Lives: Battle of Britain hero Eric Lock and Wikipedia — Eric Lock. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.
Burial / commemoration
- Cemetery
- Runnymede Memorial, United Kingdom
Timeline
-
1 October 1940
Gazetted: DFC
Distinguished Flying Cross -
22 October 1940
Gazetted: DFC
Distinguished Flying Cross -
17 December 1940
Gazetted: DSO
Distinguished Service Order - 3 August 1941 Died
Service
Awards
-
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) — gazetted 17 December 1940
Distinguished Service Order, gazetted 17 December 1940.
-
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) — gazetted 22 October 1940
Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted 22 October 1940.
-
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) — gazetted 1 October 1940
Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted 1 October 1940, for his run of victories with No. 41 Squadron in the Battle of Britain.
Source: CWGC casualty record: LOCK, ERIC STANLEY → · Commonwealth War Graves Commission