John Curchin

John Curchin was born on 20 January 1918 in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, and travelled to Britain in 1939 to enlist in the Royal Air Force, beginning flying training at No. 30 Elementary Reserve Flying Training School at Burnaston in June of that year. After completing advanced training, he joined No. 609 (West Riding) Squadron in June 1940 and flew Supermarine Spitfires throughout his operational career, first from Northolt and then from Middle Wallop during the Battle of Britain. Over the summer and autumn of 1940 he flew 130 operational sorties and destroyed at least seven enemy aircraft, including Junkers Ju 87s, Messerschmitt Bf 109s and 110s, and Dornier Do 215s; his DFC was gazetted on 1 November 1940 in recognition of the “great keenness and skill in combat against the enemy” he had consistently displayed. When 609 Squadron moved to Biggin Hill in February 1941 for offensive operations over occupied France, Curchin — by then a Flight Lieutenant — continued to add to his score, sharing in the destruction of a Bf 109 over the Channel in May 1941. On 4 June 1941, while flying Spitfire II P7292 on a search-and-rescue sortie to locate a downed pilot in the English Channel, his formation was intercepted by Bf 109s of Jagdgeschwader 53 off Dover; Curchin failed to return to Biggin Hill and his body was never recovered. He is commemorated on Panel 29 of the Runnymede Memorial, Englefield Green, Surrey.