Anthony Desmond Joseph Lovell

Anthony Desmond Joseph Lovell (service number 40402) was born on 9 August 1919 in Ceylon and was raised in Portrush, County Antrim, joining the Royal Air Force in 1938 and training as a fighter pilot. Flying Supermarine Spitfires with No. 41 Squadron, he scored his first victory over Dunkirk in May 1940 and fought through the Battle of Britain, during which he was shot down more than once; his sustained operational record and growing tally of victories brought the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1940 and a Bar in 1942 for combats against enemy bombers off the Yorkshire coast. Posted to the Mediterranean, he flew in the defence of Malta and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1942, later rising to command the 244 (Malta) Spitfire Wing and leading it through the invasions of Italy and southern France, work recognised by a Bar to his DSO in 1945 and an American Distinguished Flying Cross. By the war’s end he was credited with around 22 aerial victories, making him one of the most successful RAF fighter aces of the conflict. He survived the fighting only to be killed on 17 August 1945, aged 26, when his Spitfire crashed while he was performing aerobatics near Old Sarum airfield in Wiltshire. Wing Commander Lovell is buried in Portrush (Ballywillan) Cemetery, County Antrim.