Number 1: March 2014

The picture is of Bryan Meaker and 'Percy' Burton, both of 249 squadron. The text is correct; both were killed on 27 September 1940, Burton in the morning after ramming an ME 110 having run out of ammunition, and Meaker in the afternoon. Tragically he bailed out unharmed, but hit the tailplane of his Hurricane and was killed without his parachute having opened. He was awarded a posthumous DFC for having shot down a total of nine aircraft during the battle.

Meaker's grave is in his home village of West Dean, near Chichester, Burton's in Tangmere, which I didn't realise until it was too late to visit it.

My father-in-law used to visit the Meakers as a boy, because his father was best friends with Bryan's father. When we took him to the Tangmere museum he was delighted to see Bryan's picture, and that led me to do a bit of research into Bryan's service record.

The picture was taken by Cecil Beaton, as part of a series he was doing on fighter pilots.