Photo: Via A. Bar

HISTORY

Colorized photo with Daniel Le Roy du Vivier standing in the cockpit of a Hawker Hurricane of No. 43 Sqn RAF. The inscription URUNDI on the front of the fuselage suggests that this

is probably a Presentation Hurricane, an aircraft paid for by donations collected in the colonies.

breaking up repeated attacks by Luftwaffe bombers heavily escorted by Bf 109 and

Bf 110 fighters.

A total of 15 Belgian pilots took part in seven

Fighter Command squadrons in one of the

greatest air battles in history. It was a decisive battle because it destroyed the myth

of the invincibility of the Luftwaffe.

20

INFO Eduard

Belgian pilots will win 19 hard-won victories.

Six of them will fall for the defense of their

ideals. In No. 43 Sqn, A. Van den Hove d'Ertsenrijck won 3 victories but fell on September15. D. Le Roy du Vivier scored his first victory on August 16, a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka. On

September 2, he was shot down in combat.

Although wounded in the leg, he managed

to bail out and take to his parachute, only to

be greeted very coldly by English peasants

(farmers?) who took him for a German pilot.

The wound was deep, and D. Le Roy du Vivier

remained in hospital until October 22, when

he rejoined his squadron, which had meanwhile been redeployed to Usworth (Newcastle) on the east coast of England. It was

June 2022