Paddy Finucane

For other people etc. with a similar name, see Patrick Finucane.

Brendan Eamonn Fergus Finucane
Paddy Finucane 1941.
Birth name	Brendan Eamonn Fergus Finucane
Nickname	Paddy
Born	16 October 1920(1920-10-16) Rathmines, County Dublin, Ireland
Died	15 July 1942(1942-07-15) (aged 21) Near Pointe du Touquet, France
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Air Force
Years of service	1938 — 1942
Rank	Wing Commander
Unit	No. 65 Squadron RAF No. 452 Squadron RAAF No. 602 Squadron RAF Hornchurch Wing
Commands held	No. 65 Squadron RAF No. 452 Squadron RAAF No. 602 Squadron RAF Hornchurch Wing
Battles/wars	Second World War European theatre Battle of Britain
Awards	Distinguished Service Order Distinguished Flying Cross & Two Bars

Wing Commander Brendan Eamonn Fergus Finucane DSO, DFC & Two Bars (16 October 1920 — 15 July 1942), known as Paddy Finucane, was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot. He was a high scoring Second World War flying ace claiming 26 victories (plus six shared) and was the RAF's youngest Wing Commander in its history.

Early life

Paddy Finucane was born in 1920, the first child of Thomas and Florence Finucane, in Rathmines, Dublin, the eldest of five siblings. His father was a member of the Irish Volunteers and had served under Éamon de Valera's command in the 1916 Rising in Dublin. He was educated at Synge Street and O'Connell School schools, and later at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London, after his family emigrated to England in 1936.

Royal Air Force

Finucane joined the Royal Air Force in May 1938. After flying training and conversion to the Supermarine Spitfire he was posted as a Pilot Officer to No. 65 Squadron RAF at RAF Hornchurch in 1940. Finucane claimed his first victory in the Battle of Britain on 12 August 1940, a Messerschmitt Bf 109. No. 65 Squadron RAF was rested at the end of August 1940 and did not return to 11 Group until November. Flying from RAF Tangmere, by year's end, Finucane had claimed four Bf 109s and a Messerschmitt Bf 110.

A year later in April 1941, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and posted as a Flight commander to the newly formed Australian No. 452 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force at RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey, the first RAAF squadron to serve in Fighter Command. The squadron made its debut on operations in July 1941. Finucane added 17 fighter claims to his score by his 21st birthday in October 1941, also being awarded a Distinguished Service Order.

In January 1942, Finucane was given command of No. 602 Squadron RAF at RAF Redhill. On 20 February 1942, Finucane was slightly wounded in the leg during a strafing mission with his new command. Four Focke Wulf Fw 190s fell to his guns in March 1942. Finucane's fame spread beyond RAF ranks and "model airplanes of his Spitfire with the vivid green Shamrocks were sold all along Piccadilly Circus and The Strand." He became the youngest Wing Commander in the RAF on 27 June 1942, leading the Hornchurch Wing.

Death

Finucane was killed at the age of 21 on 15 July 1942, when he was leading the Hornchurch Wing in a fighter "Ramrod" operation (attack by fighters using cannon and machine gun against a ground target) targeting a German army camp at Etaples, France. He always said that the Luftwaffe would never get him, and coming out at low level, his Spitfire was hit by a ground shot from a single machine gun post near Pointe du Touquet which hit the radiator of his Spitfire. He flew slowly out to sea, talking calmly to his comrades as they defended the stricken fighter from pursuing German fighter planes. Finally, when some eight miles off Le Touquet, on the French coast, he sent his last message, spoken probably as his engine stopped: "This is it, chaps." He crashed from about three metres above the sea, and his Spitfire sank at once. By the time of his death he had claimed a total of 26 aircraft destroyed, six shared destroyed and eight probably destroyed.

Memorials

A rose, Spitfire Paddy, grown by horticulturalist Seán McCann, was named in Finucane's memory. In November 2004, the rose was planted in the memorial garden in Baldonnel Aerodrome in Dublin (home of the Irish Air Corps) beside the garrison church. The ceremony was attended by members of the RAF Association and the Air Corps. Corgi (the die cast model manufacturer) created in 1/72 scale, his Spitfire complete with shamrock. The model depicts his aircraft in which he achieved most of his victories when he flew with 452 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force in 1941.

Finucane's name is inscribed on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede. The memorial commemorates airmen who were lost in the Second World War and who have no known grave. The Battle of Britain Memorial on London's Embankment also includes his name as one of The Few. His flying logbook can be viewed in the Soldiers and Chiefs exhibition in the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks, on loan from the Finucane family. His uniform is on display at the RAF Museum in Hendon, London.

See also

• List of military figures by nickname
• List of RAF aircrew in the Battle of Britain

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

• Brennan, M. "Fighter pilot ace remembered in unique ceremony." Irish Independent, 6 November 2004.
• Byrne, Maurice. "The Ace with the Shamrock". Dublin Historical Record, Published by the Old Dublin Society, Volume LIX, No. 1, Spring 2006.
• Churchill, Winston S. The Grand Alliance (Seventh impression), Volume 3, Appendix G, 1954, p. 644.
• Jackson, Robert. Fighter Pilots of World War II. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1976. ISBN 978-0312288754.
• Liebling, A.J. "Paddy of the R.A.F". The New Yorker, 6 December 1941. Reprinted as pp. 622–635 in A.J. Liebling. World War II Writings. New York: The Library of America, 2008. ISBN 1-59853-018-6.
• Philpott, Bryan. Famous Fighter Aces. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-025-X.
• Reynolds, James. Wing Commander Paddy Finucane (Brendan Finucane), a Memoir. New York: Edmond Byrne Hackett, 1942.
• Sampson, Sammy (Wing Commander RFW, OBE,DFC&BAR) with Norman Franks. Spitfire Offensive. London: Bounty Books, 2002. ISBN 978-0-7537-1558-1.
• Stokes, Doug. Paddy Finucane, Fighter Ace: A Biography of Wing Commander Brendan E. Finucane, D.S.O., D.F.C. and Two Bars. London: William Kimber & Co. Ltd., 1983. ISBN 0-71830-279-6. (republished Somerton, Somerset, UK: Crécy Publishing, 1992, ISBN 0-947554-22-X).

External links

• Biography of Brendan "Paddy" Finucane at acesofww2.com
• Radio Documentary on Brendan "Paddy" Finucane