Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Wing commander is immediately se ...

Hector MacLean AE* (9 December 1913 – 19 July 2007) was a

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

fighter pilot.

Biography

MacLean was educated at St Ninian's Preparatory School,

Moffat Moffat is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire. Part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland, it lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town. Moffat is arou ...

;

Canford School Canford School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18). Situated in 300 acres of parkland near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, south west England, it is one of the largest ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

and the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, from where he graduated

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

in 1935.

RAF career

He joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

in November 1935, after his graduation from university. He was commissioned in March 1936, and joined No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron flying

Hawker Hind The Hawker Hind is a British light bomber of the inter-war years produced by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force. It was developed from the Hawker Hart day bomber introduced in 1931 in aviation, 1931. Design and development An improved Ha ...

s, and later

Hawker Hart The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircraf ...

s. By 1939, 602 Squadron were flying Spitfires and MacLean flew with the squadron throughout the

. He claimed two shared kills – a

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and medium bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Due to restrictions placed on Germany a ...

on 22 December 1939 and a

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the ''Luftwaffe'' and became one o ...

in July 1940. On 26 August 1940, MacLean was severely wounded over the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

, but managed to return and belly-land his badly damaged aircraft at

RAF Tangmere Royal Air Force Tangmere or more simply RAF Tangmere is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located in Tangmere, England, famous for its role in the Battle of Britain. It was one of several stations near Chichester, West Sussex. The Seco ...

. His injuries resulted in the loss of his right leg below the knee and a lengthy hospitalisation. He was then unable to continue flying, and became a fighter controller and scrambled the intercept when

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician, Nuremberg trials, convicted war criminal and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer ( ...

made his lone flight to Scotland on 10 May 1941. He retired on transfer to the reserve on 1 April 1950 and relinquished his RAF commission on 2 December 1957.

Postwar career

He joined his family's law firm after the war and in 1999 wrote ''Fighters in Defence, Memories of the Glasgow Squadron''. One of the longest lived Battle of Britain veterans, he died in 2007 aged 93.Scotsman Obituary
/ref> MacLean is survived by his three sons Donald, Marcus, Charles and daughter Jane and his nine grandchildren.

References

London Gazette Entries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclean, Hector 1913 births 2007 deaths Royal Air Force wing commanders Royal Air Force pilots of World War II People educated at Canford School Scottish airmen The Few People educated at St Ninian's School, Moffat Military personnel from Glasgow