Henry Michael Ferriss

Henry Michael Ferriss was born in 1917 at Lee, near Lewisham in south-east London. After schooling at Stonyhurst College he began studying medicine at St Thomas’ Hospital, but flying drew him away from the wards: he took a short service commission in the RAF in 1937, trained at 6 Flying Training School at Netheravon, and in May 1938 joined No. 111 Squadron at Northolt. Flying Hawker Hurricanes, Ferriss proved a formidable fighter pilot over France and the early Battle of Britain, claiming a string of victories against Messerschmitt Bf 110s and Bf 109s through May and June 1940. His skill in those outnumbered combats brought the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted in June 1940. On 16 August 1940, pressing home a head-on attack against a Dornier Do 17 bomber, his Hurricane collided with the German aircraft near Marden in Kent. He was killed, aged 23, and was buried at St Mary’s churchyard, Chislehurst.