James Brindley Nicolson

Wing Commander James Brindley Nicolson holds a singular place in the history of the Royal Air Force as the only member of Fighter Command — and the only pilot of the Battle of Britain — to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

Born in Hampstead on 29 April 1917, he was flying a Hawker Hurricane of No. 249 Squadron on 16 August 1940 when his aircraft was hit by cannon fire near Southampton and set ablaze, wounding him in the eye and foot. As he prepared to bale out of the burning cockpit a Messerschmitt Bf 110 crossed his sights; Nicolson stayed with his blazing aircraft long enough to shoot it down before taking to his parachute, badly burned. The Victoria Cross that followed, gazetted on 15 November 1940, recognised that he had pressed home his attack regardless of his own grievous injuries.

Nicolson recovered and continued to serve, rising to wing commander and a staff appointment in the Far East. On 2 May 1945, flying as an observer in a No. 355 Squadron Liberator over the Bay of Bengal, his aircraft caught fire and crashed into the sea; his body was never recovered. He is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial, and his Victoria Cross is held by the Royal Air Force Museum. He was 28.