Richard Hugh Antony Lee

Richard Hugh Antony Lee was born on 12 May 1917 in Mayfair, London, and educated at Charterhouse School before entering the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell in September 1935, graduating as a pilot officer in July 1937. A permanent-force regular officer, he was posted first to No. 87 Squadron and then, in June 1938, to No. 85 Squadron — the unit with which he would make his name. When war broke out his squadron deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force, flying Hawker Hurricanes, and on 21 November 1939 Lee shot down a Heinkel He 111 north of Cap Gris-Nez, opening No. 85 Squadron’s account for the Second World War; the deed contributed to the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted on 8 March 1940. During the intense fighting of May 1940 he destroyed or shared in the destruction of several more aircraft in a single day’s combat on 10 May, was wounded by flak the following day, and was shot down into the sea off Dunkirk on 27 May, surviving after an hour in the water; these repeated acts of gallantry saw him further decorated with the Distinguished Service Order, gazetted 31 May 1940, and he received both awards from King George VI at RAF Hornchurch in late June. On 18 August 1940 — the day later known as “The Hardest Day” — Lee was flying Hurricane P2923 with No. 85 Squadron when he pursued a formation of Messerschmitt Bf 109s out across the North Sea east of Margate and beyond radio contact; he was never seen again, posted missing in action at the age of twenty-three. He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Englefield Green, Surrey, Panel 6, which records the names of those lost over land and sea who have no known grave.