Edward Vivian Darling

Edward Vivian Darling was born on 11 October 1914 at Wellington in the Madras Presidency of British India. He joined the Royal Air Force and was posted to No. 41 Squadron in January 1940, flying Spitfires through the Dunkirk evacuation and the Battle of Britain, during which he claimed several enemy aircraft and was himself shot down on 24 August 1940. He went on to fly with No. 602 Squadron in the summer of 1941 before joining No. 616 Squadron that August as a flight commander. His skill and leadership across more than thirty operational sweeps brought the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted on 17 October 1941. In May 1942 he became a flight commander with the Canadian No. 403 Squadron. On 2 June 1942, during a fighter sweep over France, his Spitfire Vb was shot down by Focke-Wulf 190s off Calais. He was never recovered and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.