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Kenneth Lee
| Squadron Leader Kenneth Lee (deceased) Kenneth Norman Thomson Lee was a Battle of Britain pilot who volunteered for the RAF in 1937. Kenneth Lee joined 111 Squadron at Northolt in March 1939. He was commissioned and went to 43 Squadron at Tangmere. Kenneth Lee flew Hurricanes during the Battles of France and Britain with No.501 Sqn, based at Filton and accumulated 7 victories, the first being when 501 Squadron went to France on May 10th 1940 and Kenneth Lee claimed a Bf 110 destroyed later that day. On the 12th he destroyed a Do 17 and a Bf109. The Squadron flew back from France on June 18th and re-assembled at Croydon on the 21st. On May 27th Kenneth Lee claimed an He111 destroyed and a Do17 on June 6th. While attacking a formation of He111s on June 10th Lee's Hurricane was hit by return fire from one of the He111s and exploded. He took to his parachute and landed at Le Mans. Kenneth Lee damaged a Ju 87 on July 29th and on August 12th destroyed another Ju87. While flying his Hurricane (P3059) Lee was shot down for a second time on the 18th when Oberleutnant Schopfel in an Me109 of III./JG26 shot him down over Canterbury. He was one of four Hurricane of the squadron claimed by Schopfel that day. Kenneth Lee baled out, with a bullet wound in the leg and landed near Whitstable. In October, Lee rejoined 501 Sqn and on the 22nd October he was awarded the DFC. On November 29th Lee was posted to the Special Duties flight at Stormy Down and later transferred as Flight Commander to 52 OTU, at Crosby-On-Eden. In December 1941 Kenneth Lee became Flight Commander with 112 Squadron when he was posted to the Middle East and on the 18th of September 1942 Lee moved to 260 Squadron. On 10th November he destroyed an Mc202. He took control of 123 Squadron at Abadan, Persia in March 1943. In May, Lee with 123 Squadron went to the Western Desert and on July 27th 1943 Lee was shot down for the third time and captured on a dawn raid on Crete. He was taken prisoner of war to Stalag Luft 111 at Sagan and Belaria. Ken Lee left the RAF in late 1945 as a Squadron Leader. Sadly, Kenneth Lee passed away on 15th January 2008. |
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| Text for the above items : |
This Sceptred Isle by Robert Taylor. For nearly a thousand years the white cliffs of southern England had taunted many a foreign army. These fortress walls of chalk, however, were defended by the moat-like waters of the Channel, and together they had shielded the British from her enemies. Alongside Drake they had defied the armies of Spain and her great Armada and, in 1805, had halted the march of Napoleon's Grand Armée. No enemy force since that of William the Conqueror in 1066 had successfully managed to cross the Channel in anger but, in May 1940, one of the most powerful armies the world had ever seen arrived at Calais. An invasion by Hitler's all-conquering Wehrmacht was imminent - or so it seemed. To cross the Channel and breach the English defences, the Luftwaffe simply had to gain control of the skies, and with massively superior numbers the outcom seemed inevitable. The fate of Britain lay in the hands of less than 3,000 young airmen from Fighter Command - Churhill's 'Few'. By July the most famous air battle in history was underway and, over the next three months under tranquil summer skies, the 'Few' battled to defend their Scpetred Isle. Impossibly outnumbered and flying daily to the point of exhaustion, by October these courageous young men had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, emerging defiantly victorious. The threat of invasion might be over but a terrible price had been paid - during that long battle for the survival of Britain 544 had been killed and 422 wounded; and of those who survived a further 814 would be killed before the end of the war. This painting pays tribute to the valiant 'Few', portraying a fleeting moment of calm for the pilots of 74 (Tiger) Squadron during the height of the Battle of Britain. With his commanding officer Sailor Malan (ZP-A) to his right, Acting Flight Lieutenant John Freeborn (ZP-C) takes time to reflect on another day of intense combat while passing over the white cliffs and the familiar lighthouse at Beachy Head, as the squadron cross the English coast to head for home. |
Defence of the Capital by Gerald Coulson. High over London, Hurricanes of 85 Squadron engage Me109s in an intense dogfight during the heavy fighting of August 1940. |
A Hasty Exit by Ivan Berryman. P/O J E Marshall baling out of his stricken 79 Sqn Hurricane on 30th August 1940. |
Clipped Signature - Kenneth Lee. Flew Hurricanes with No.43 Sqn in the Battles of France and Britain, scoring 7 victories during the war. Shot down three times, he bailed out over France and Britain but was captured in 1943 during a dawn raid on Crete with No.123 Sqn. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, he died in 2008. |
Hurricane Country by Nicolas Trudgian. Released on the 65th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain a new limited edition to commemorate Churchills famous few. Stalwart of the Battle of Britain, the Hawker Hurricane equipped the majority of the RAF squadrons that defended Britain during that epic and decisive air battle in the summer of 1940. At the forefront of the air fighting over the southern counties of England, the young Hurricane pilots of 501 Squadron covered themselves in glory. Nicolas Trudgians painting sets the scene: a victim of yesterdays aerial conflicts, a crashlanded German Ju88 of KG30 lies on the edge of a Sussex field; the attention of two members of the local Home Guard is drawn to the Hurricanes of 501 Squadron as the fighters race back at low-level to Gravesend for fuel and ammunition. Within minutes they will scramble aloft again to rejoin the fray. Published 2005. |
A Quick Despatch by Ivan Berryman. Sqn Ldr James Leathart watches another of his victims, a Heinkel He.111, slowly roll over in its death throes above the beaches near Dunkirk on 21st May 1940, flying Spitfire Mk.1 P9389 (KL-A) of 54 Sqn, based at Hornchurch. All but one of his many claimed victories were scored in this aircraft which was eventually lost in October 1940 whilst being flown by Plt Off C Stewart, who baled out and survived the incident relatively unscathed. |
Front Line Hurricanes by Robert Taylor. Based at a temporary formed airfield at Lille Marc, Hurricanes of No. 87 Squadron - showing the strains of battle - taxi in from a skirmish during heavy fighting in the Battle of France, May 1940. |
A Dunkirk Encounter by Ivan Berryman. A moment during the fraught encounter on 27th May 1940 over Dunkirk between Spitfires of 610 Sqn and an estimated 40 Bf.110s during which three Zerstorers were shot down. |
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