Crelin Arthur Walford Bodie

Crelin Arthur Walford Bodie was born in April 1920 at Kirton, Suffolk. He took a short service commission in the RAF in October 1939, and on finishing his flying training joined No. 66 Squadron at Duxford in May 1940, flying Supermarine Spitfires. Over the summer and autumn of that year he proved a notably aggressive fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in November 1940; his citation singled out a September action in which he pursued and downed an enemy aircraft into the sea, by which point he had already destroyed at least six. His tally eventually reached around ten German aircraft destroyed, several shared. He also served briefly with No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron before being posted in June 1941 to No. 152 (Hyderabad) Squadron at Portreath. On 24 February 1942, while practising aerobatics in Spitfire Mk IIa P8077 near RNAS Eglinton in County Londonderry, he lost control and was killed in the crash, aged 21. He is buried at Faughanvale (St Canice) Church of Ireland Churchyard.