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 ...

Howard Peter "Cowboy" Blatchford (25 February 1912 – 3 May 1943) was a

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

, who achieved the first

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

victory in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Blatchford was born in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Alberta on 25 February 1912, and enlisted in 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 February 1936. He was posted to No. 41 Squadron RAF in early 1937. In April 1940 he was posted to No. 212 Squadron RAF, flying

photo-reconnaissance Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including artillery spotting, the collection of imag ...

operations. In June he joined the Photographic Development Unit as a flight commander, later transferring to

No. 17 Squadron RAF Number 17 Squadron (sometimes written as No. XVII Squadron), currently No. 17 Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES), is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was reformed on 12 April 2013 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, as the Operational ...

in September, flying

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

s. He soon joined No. 257 Squadron RAF, under the command of Squadron Leader

Robert Stanford Tuck Wing Commander Robert Roland Stanford Tuck, (1 July 1916 – 5 May 1987) was a British fighter pilot, flying ace and test pilot. Tuck joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1935 and first engaged in combat during the Battle of France, over Dunkir ...

. In December 1940, Blatchford was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross:

Flight Lieutenant Howard Peter BLATCHFORD (37715), No. 257 Squadron. In November, 1940, this officer was the leader of a squadron which destroyed eight and damaged a further five enemy aircraft in one day. In the course of the combat he rammed and damaged a hostile fighter when his ammunition was expended, and then made two determined head-on feint attacks on enemy fighters, which drove them off. He has shown magnificent leadership and outstanding courage.

Blatchford became commanding officer of No. 257 Squadron RAF in July 1941. He was promoted to

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 ...

in September that year, becoming

wing leader Wing leader, or wing commander (flying), denotes the tactical commander of a Commonwealth military wing on flying operations. The terms refer to a position, not a rank, although the role was usually taken by an officer ranked wing commander. The ...

of the Digby Wing. On 23 September 1941, John Gillespie Magee, the author of the famous flying poem "High Flight," arrived at Digby for his first operational posting, on RCAF 412 Squadron. On 12 October 1941, Magee's squadron moved from the Digby aerodrome to the nearby

RAF Wellingore Royal Air Force Wellingore or more simply RAF Wellingore is a former Royal Air Force fighter relief landing ground located south of Navenby, Lincolnshire and south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. History The airfield was originally opened ...

, from which he was operating when he died. Blatchford finished his tour of duty in April 1942, returning to operations in February 1943 as wing leader of the Coltishall Wing. On 29 March 1943 his Spitfires propeller was hit by Flak splinters during morning sortie (ca. 08.45-10.30), FB/Cat.A, but he landed safely. On 4 April 1943 while leading 167 Squadron on a sortie escorting 24

Lockheed Ventura The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II. The Ventura first entered combat in Europe as a bomber with the RAF in late 1942. Designated PV-1 by the United States Navy (US Navy), it entered combat in ...

s attacking Rotterdam, his Spitfire was severely hit by a Jagdgeschwader 1 fighter with cannon and machine gun fire. Leading the Coltishall Wing to escort bombers attacking a power station in Amsterdam, Blatchford was shot down and killed in action on 3 May 1943 by Obfw.

Hans Ehlers Hans Ehlers (15 July 1914 – 27 December 1944) was a German military aviation, military aviator who served in the Luftwaffe during World War II. As a fighter ace, he was credited with 55—that is, 55 aerial combat encounters resulting in the de ...

of II Gruppe, JG1. His body was never found. He is commemorated on the

Air Forces Memorial The Air Forces Memorial, or Runnymede Memorial, in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England is a memorial dedicated to some 20,456 men and women from air forces of the British Empire who were lost in air and other operations during World War ...

at Runnymede. At the time of his death, Blatchford had claimed five aircraft shot down, three shared aircraft shot down, three "probables", four damaged and one shared damaged.

References

* ''Aces High''- C.Shores & C.Williams (Grub Street 1991) page 133. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blatchford, Howard Peter 1912 births 1943 deaths Canadian aviators Canadian World War II flying aces Royal Air Force wing commanders Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Canadian recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) The Few Wing leaders Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Pilots who performed an aerial ramming Aviators killed by being shot down People from Edmonton Canadian military personnel from Alberta