A clash of two generations

Text: Jan Bobek

Illustration: Piotr Forkasiewicz

Cat. No. 70202

Fighter pilot Percival Clarence Hughes, later known as Paterson C. Hughes, became one of the most successful Allied fighter pilots of the Battle of Britain and ranks among the top Australian aces. Details of Hughes’s wartime career, including the circumstances of his final flight, can be found in the historical notes on aircraft AZ-Q written by our colleague Michal Krechowski, who was responsible for the preparation of this kit.

During his school years, Pat Hughes developed a keen interest in airplane modelling and radios. It is therefore hardly surprising that his path eventually led him to the Royal Australian Air Force. He also possessed considerable literary talent and wrote for several Australian newspapers and magazines.

After moving to Britain and joining the RAF, Hughes played a significant role in No. 234 Squadron during the spring of 1940, when the unit was converting from twin-engined Bristol Blenheim fighters to Spitfires. The squadron’s commanding officer, Squadron Leader Richard Barnett, undertook little flying, and it was Pat Hughes, one of the unit’s flight leaders, who assumed the leading role in the conversion to the Spitfire. Over the following months, Hughes effectively led No. 234 Squadron in combat. On occasion, and in defiance of regulations, he was joined in the cockpit by his Airedale terrier, named Flying Officer Butch.

In early August, Hughes spent two weeks with No. 247 (China-British) Squadron RAF, assisting its conversion to the Gloster Gladiator, and married during the posting. By mid-month, the 22-year-old Australian had returned to No. 234 Squadron. Over the next three weeks, he and British pilot Bob Doe accounted for half the unit’s victories. Hughes’s rapid success recalls that of Czechoslovak ace Josef František. Both men  showed increasing signs of fatigue and combat stress, which may ultimately have contributed to their deaths.

Hughes fought one of his final engagements on the afternoon of 5 September while patrolling over Kenley. Flying as Blue 1, he and No. 234 Squadron were drawn towards anti-aircraft bursts over Gravesend. On arrival, the Spitfires were attacked out of the sun by three Bf 109s before sighting another twelve. Firing from a highly unfavourable position, Hughes hit one Bf 109, which exploded. He then spotted three more and attacked one from astern. By this stage of his career, Hughes habitually closed to extremely short range before firing. His Spitfire was sprayed with oil from the damaged German aircraft, which he believed had force-landed fifteen miles south of Manston airfield. This is the combat depicted in Piotr Forkasiewicz’s box art.

The aircraft shot down in this engagement and credited to Hughes belonged to the Stab JG 53. It made a forced landing at Monkton Farm, near St Nicholas-at-Wade. Its Werknummer was 5375, and for some reason the aircraft is frequently identified in published sources as a Bf 109 E-1. Both its wing-mounted cannon armament and its canopy, however, indicate that it was an E-4. This is also confirmed by German records: the aircraft had been built by WNF between May and June 1940 as part of a production batch of sixty Bf 109 E-4s. The DB 601 A-1 engine fitted to the aircraft was of more recent manufacture. Bearing the serial number 62783, it had been completed on 13 August 1940.

Far more remarkable, however, was the captured pilot. He was old enough to have been Hughes’s father and had first taken to the air as an observer during the WW1. He was Hauptmann Wilhelm Meyerweissflog, an officer of Stab JG 53. Born on 27 October 1889, he had learned to drive a motor car in 1911. After being recalled to service during the WW2, he was appointed to an administrative post but nevertheless continued to fly operational sorties. On 26 August 1940, for example, he flew with 1./JG 53 as part of the high-altitude cover.

Meyerweissflog had returned from brief leave to his unit’s base near Boulogne late on 4 September 1940. Shortly after lunch the next day, he saw many younger pilots taking off and decided to fly as well. He climbed into his Bf 109 and headed vaguely towards England. Hit by an RAF fighter, he force-landed and escaped injury more through luck than judgement. When captured, he had no idea where he was but remained in good spirits.

Promoted to Major der Reserve on 1 June 1943, Meyerweissflog was repatriated to Germany in 1944. Before the war, he had lived in Switzerland and travelled to the United States on business. He apparently worked for Extractochemie A.-G. in Zurich and probably wrote “The Solvent Extraction of Soy Beans”, published in the January 1937 issue of Oil & Soap. Details of his First World War service remain unknown. His original surname may have been Meyer, with Meyer-Weissflog or Meyerweissflog adopted later.