Marmaduke Pattle

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Marmaduke Thomas St. John Pattle
3 July 1914 – 20 April 1941
Nickname	"Pat"
Place of birth	Butterworth, Cape Province
Place of death	Athens, Greece
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Air Force
Years of service	1936-1941
Rank	Squadron Leader
Unit	No. 80 Squadron RAF No. 33 Squadron RAF
Battles/wars	North African campaign Battle of Greece
Awards	DFC & bar

Squadron Leader Marmaduke Thomas St. John "Pat" Pattle, DFC & bar, (3 July 1914 – 20 April 1941) was a South African born World War II Flying ace for the Royal Air Force.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Second World war 2.1 North African campaign 2.2 Greece and the Balkans 3 Legacy 4 References 4.1 Notes 4.2 Bibliography 5 External links

[edit] Early years

"Pat" Pattle was born in Butterworth, Cape Province, South Africa, on 3 July 1914, the son of English parents who had emigrated to the Union. He attended Keetman's Hoop Secondary School, South West Africa, and Victoria Boy's High School, Grahamstown.

He joined the South African Air Force as a cadet on leaving school, but in 1936 transferred to the RAF. On 24 August 1936, he was granted a short service commission as an Acting Pilot Officer.^[1] He completed his training in the UK in 1937 and in June 1937 as a Pilot Officer (he was confirmed in the rank on 27 July 1937)^[2] joined 80 Squadron, which had just re-equipped with Gloster Gladiator biplanes.

In April 1938, he accompanied the unit to Egypt, where by 1939 he had become a flight commander.

[edit] Second World war

[edit] North African campaign

Following the outbreak of war, the unit moved up to the Libyan border, where in August 1940, he first saw action. 80 Squadron received the order to deploy one of its Flights to Sidi Barrani, the choice falling on "B" Flight, commanded by Pattle. On 4 August 1940, while escorting a Lysander, Pattle and his flight engaged a force of Fiat CR-32s and Breda Ba.65s, and although he made claims for two shot down, was himself shot down, bailing out over Italian territory, and walking back to Allied lines two days later. He was promoted Flight Lieutenant on 3 September 1940.^[3]

[edit] Greece and the Balkans

In November, the squadron was transferred to the Balkans to help the Greek Air Force against the Italian invasion on the Albanian Front. Here Pattle was to enjoy his significant success, being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on 11 February 1941,^[4] and a bar to the DFC on 18 March 1941, for which the citation read:

Air Ministry, 18th March, 1941.
ROYAL AIR FORCE.
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the following awards in recognition of gallantry displayed in flying operations against the enemy: —
Bar to Distinguished Flying Cross.
Flight Lieutenant Marmaduke Thomas St. John PATTLE, D.F.C. (39029), No. 80 Squadron.

In March 1941, during an engagement over Himara, Flight Lieutenant Pattle shot down three enemy fighters. This courageous and skilful fighter pilot has now destroyed at least 23 enemy aircraft.^[5]

Amazingly, his victories thus far were with the obsolete Gloster Gladiator biplane, but as the Allied forces encountered Luftwaffe units after 6 April 1941, the RAF fighter component squadrons were quickly re-equipped with the far superior Hawker Hurricane Mk I. On his first encounter with the Luftwaffe on 6 April 1941, Pattle claimed two victories over the Bf 109Es of 8 Staffel,Jagdgeschwader 27.

Pattle later served with 33 Squadron as CO during March and April 1941. Pattle scored multiple kills on several days, five shot down both on 14 April and 20 April, and 6.33 on 19 April. On his last combat operation, over Athens, suffering from combat fatigue and influenza with a fever over 39˚C,^[6] he tried to save one of his pilots (F/Lt William Woods) from a Bf 110 before two other Bf 110s of Zestorergeschwader (ZG) 26 shot him down over Eleusis Bay, some five miles SW of Athens. Three fighters were lost, although five Hurricanes were claimed shot down by 5./ZG 26 in return for the loss of two aircraft (the RAF pilots claimed seven). Surviving records show among the German claimants were Staffelkapitän Hauptmann Theodor Rossiwall and Oberleutnant Sophus Baagoe who were credited with kills against Hurricanes, taking their scores to 12 and 14 respectively. It cannot be known for certain which one shot down Pattle. Also killed in this battle was the ace, F/Lt W.J. "Timber" Woods of No. 80 Squadron with 6.5 kills.^[7]

Recent research into the Battle of Athens and those engaged in it indicates the Hurricanes of Pattle and Woods fell not in Eleusis Bay but on the east coast of the island of Psitallea, outside the harbor of Piraeus. No. 33 Squadron met the first wave of Bf 110s over Kallithea, a suburb of Athens, and were chased to the south into Faliron Bay from where Woods – low on fuel and ammunition – turned west to try to reach his base at Elefsis. He was reported to have been shot down along this track during the first engagement over Faliron and Piraeus.^{[citation needed]}

Pattle is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial at El Alamein together with 3000 other Commonwealth airmen who lost their lives in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Greece, Crete and the Aegean, Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Somalilands, the Sudan, East Africa, Aden or Madagascar during the Second World War, and who have no known grave.^[8]

[edit] Legacy

Pattle did all his scoring in a period of nine months, against Axis opponents who outnumbered the RAF fighter contingent at all times. Pattle was reputed to be a crack shot, a better-than-average pilot and a highly capable formation leader in the air. As a squadron commander he demanded more from himself than anyone else, and it is said he died because he should have been grounded because of illness, yet insisted on leading his squadron.

His final "score" will probably never be known, as official squadron combat reports and RAF documents for the time were lost in the retreat from Greece and Crete.^[9] Existing records up to early April 1941 list Pattle as claiming at least 34 confirmed kills, and many more probables. Aviation historian Christopher Shores, in his book of Commonwealth fighter pilots, Aces High, by cross-checking squadron diaries, reviewing Pattle's aircraft rigger's (W.J. Ringrose) personal journal and the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica loss records, claims Pattle's final score as 50 individual and two shared victories. Andrew Thomas reports the same score in Osprey Aircraft of Aces 57: Hurricane Aces 1941–1945.

Recent research of his 50 claims has shown that at least 27 can be directly linked to specific Italian and German losses, while only six claims discounted as no Axis losses are recorded.^[10] This suggests Pattle's true total could be at least 27–44 kills, making him the highest scoring RAF biplane ace, one of the top Hurricane pilots of the conflict, and possibly the top RAF ace of the war. (Johnnie Johnson's victory total stood at 34.) Even while suffering from high fever, he scored nine air kills in his last four days.

Pattle is mentioned in Roald Dahl's second autobiography, Going Solo. Dahl calls him the Second World War's greatest flying ace, and flew with him in a formation of 12 Hawker Hurricanes — the entire Allied air presence in Greece at the time — on a prestige mission over Athens to bolster morale for the Greeks. They were attacked by Axis fighters in what became known as the Battle of Athens. Dahl records five Hurricanes were downed, with four pilots dying. One of those was Pattle.

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

• Squadron Leader Marmaduke Thomas St John ‘Pat’ Pattle DFC and Bar, RAF no. 39029
• South African Aces of WW2
• Biography

Persondata
NAME	Pattle, Marmaduke
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Pattle, Marmaduke Thomas St. John
SHORT DESCRIPTION	South African born World War II Flying ace for the RAF. Awarded theDistinguished Flying Cross (DFC) & bar.
DATE OF BIRTH	3 July 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH	Butterworth, Cape Province.
DATE OF DEATH	20 April 1941
PLACE OF DEATH	Athens, Greece.