Michael Lister Robinson

Michael Lister Robinson was born on 8 May 1917 in Chelsea, London, the son of Roy Lister Robinson, an Australian-born timber commissioner who would later be created 1st Baron Robinson of Kielder Forest. Educated at Downside School, he accepted a short service commission in the Royal Air Force in September 1935 and completed his pilot training the following year, going on to serve with No. 111 Squadron at Northolt. When Germany invaded France in the spring of 1940, Robinson was posted to No. 87 Squadron, flying Hurricanes from Lille, and subsequently served as a flight commander with Nos. 601 and 238 Squadrons during the Battle of Britain. In October 1940 he took command of No. 609 Squadron and began leading offensive sweeps over occupied France, accumulating a confirmed tally of sixteen enemy aircraft destroyed; his gallantry during this period was recognised with the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted on 26 November 1940, and the Distinguished Service Order, gazetted on 5 August 1941, along with a Belgian Croix de Guerre. Appointed to command the Tangmere Wing on 1 January 1942, he was one of the youngest wing leaders in Fighter Command. On 10 April 1942, while leading No. 340 (Free French) Squadron on a cross-Channel sweep near Boulogne, Robinson’s Spitfire Vb (serial W3770) was engaged by Focke-Wulf Fw 190s of Jagdgeschwader 26; he and his wingman were both shot down and killed, leaving no recoverable remains. Wing Commander Robinson is commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede, Surrey, on Panel 64.