Pat Pattle

Marmaduke was named after his paternal grandfather, Captain Thomas Marmaduke Pattle, who resigned his commission in the Royal Horse Artillery and emigrated to South Africa from England in 1875.

Thomas became the first military magistrate of Butterworth.

Jack Pattle followed his father into the British Army at the age of 15.

He fought in the Second Boer War and the Natal Rebellion.

Afterwards, he studied law and became a civilian attorney.

Jack Pattle met Edith Brailsford in 1909.

Brailsford was an English nurse who had lived in South Africa since the age of five.

Jack Pattle and Edith Brailsford married in 1912.

Within two years, two sons had been born, Cecil and Marmaduke.

As a child, Marmaduke was academically gifted and also a keen boxer and long-distance swimmer.

He also took a keen interest in mechanical things, particularly combustion engines, and was building Meccano models of aircraft and other vehicles by the age of 12.

In his early teens, he became an avid amateur mechanic, fixing the family motor car and learning to drive.

Marmaduke was never a hard worker and did not embark upon an academic career, but was considered to possess above average intelligence.

Marmaduke Thomas St John Pattle, (3 July 1914 – 20 April 1941), usually known as Pat Pattle, was a South African-born English Second World War fighter pilot and flying ace (an aviator credited with the destruction of five or more enemy aircraft in aerial combat) of the Royal Air Force (RAF).

Pattle applied to join the South African Air Force at 18, but was rejected.

Pattle was born in Butterworth, Cape Province, on 3 July 1914, the son of South African-born parents of English descent, Sergeant-Major Cecil William John "Jack" Pattle (b. 5 September 1884) and Edith Brailsford (1881–1962).

In 1929, he passed the Junior Certificate Exam with first class honours.

The certificate qualified him for Victoria Boy's High School from which he graduated in 1931.

Although he had considered a career as a mining engineer, Pattle sent in an application to join the South African Air Force in 1932 and was employed in menial jobs while waiting for a response.

For several months, he worked at a petrol station owned by an uncle.

On 22 March 1933 he was invited for an interview for a commission in the Air Force in Pretoria.

One of 30 applicants vying for three places, he was rejected for lack of flying experience.

Determined to rectify this weakness, he went to Johannesburg and began taking flying lessons.

He travelled to the United Kingdom and joined the RAF in 1936 on a Short Service Commission.

Pattle was a pilot by 1937 and was posted to No. 80 Squadron based in Egypt upon the outbreak of war in September 1939.

In June 1940, Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis Powers and he began combat operations against the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force), gaining his first successes during the Italian invasion of Egypt.

After the Italian invasion, his squadron was sent to Greece in November 1940, where Pattle achieved most of his victories.

Pattle claimed around 20 aircraft shot down and in March 1941 was promoted to squadron leader.

After the German intervention, and in fourteen days of operations, Pattle claimed victories 24–50.

Pattle claimed five or more aircraft destroyed in one day on three occasions, which qualified him for ace in a day status.

Pattle achieved his greatest success on 19 April 1941, claiming six victories.

The following day, having claimed more aerial victories than any other Western Allied pilot, he took off against orders, while suffering from a high temperature, to engage German aircraft near Athens.

He was last seen battling Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighters.

His Hurricane crashed into the sea during this dogfight and Pattle was killed.

Pattle is sometimes noted as being the highest-scoring British Commonwealth pilot of the war.

If all claims made for him are correct, his total could have been more than 51.

It can be stated that his final total was at least 40 and could exceed this number.

Log-books and semi-official records suggest this figure, while personnel attached to his squadron suspect the figure to be closer to 60.

A total of 26 of Pattle's victims were Italian; 15 were downed with Gloster Gladiators, the rest with Hawker Hurricanes.

He is considered to be the highest-scoring ace on both Gladiator and Hurricane (35 victories) fighters.