James Archibald Findlay Maclachlan

Squadron Leader James Archibald Findlay ‘Mac’ MacLachlan was born on 1 April 1919 and became one of the RAF’s most determined fighter pilots. Flying Hurricanes in the defence of Malta, he was shot down on 16 February 1941 and so badly wounded that his left arm had to be amputated below the elbow. Fitted with an artificial arm, he refused to give up operational flying: in November 1941 he took command of No. 1 Squadron, leading Hurricane night-intruder sorties over occupied France, often alongside the Czech ace Karel Kuttelwascher. He was credited with around sixteen enemy aircraft destroyed and decorated with the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Bars. On 18 July 1943, flying a low-level daylight intruder mission in a North American Mustang, he was brought down over France by flak or engine failure; gravely injured and taken prisoner, he died of his wounds on 31 July 1943, aged 24.