TWO of the "Few" who fought in the Battle of Britain in 1940 are to be honoured at their old school in North Yorkshire.
A memorial plaque to James Harry "Ginger" Lacy and Ronald William Richardson is to be placed at King James's School, Knaresborough, by the Battle of Britain Historical Society.
The plaque will be presented by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of North Yo
rkshire, Air Commodore William Gambold, on Monday, September 15, which is Battle of Britain Day.
Sgt Lacey was a pilot with 501 Squadron flying Hawker Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain, which ran from July 10 to October 31, 1940.
Sgt Richardson, who trained as a wireless operator/air gunner, was an observer with 141 Squadron. He flew through the Battle of Britain as an air gunner in two-seater Defiant fighters.
Both men attended what was then King James's Grammar School. Sgt Lacy, who was a Squadron Leader at the end of the Second World War, was born in Wetherby. Sgt Richardson, who became a Flying Officer, was born in Knaresborough.
Sgt Lacey had already been awarded a Croix de Guerre after destroying five enemy aircraft in France before becoming one of the most successful pilots of the Battle of Britain with at least 19 aircraft confirmed destroyed and many more "probables" or damaged.
He was shot down or forced to land nine times and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Medal and Bar during the Battle of Britain. He retired from the RAF in 1967 and died at the age of 72 in 1989.
Sgt Richardson, who worked for a local printing firm before joining the RAF, was a member of the crew of a Havoc which crashed in Kent in June 1942. He was pulled out of the burning wreckage by another crew member.
The pilot died, but Sgt Richardson was transferred to the Queen Victoria Hospital at East Grinstead where he underwent plastic surgery by the legendary Archie McIndoe.
He left the RAF in 1946 and joined the Air Traffic Control Service at Manchester Airport and became one of the team that established the air routing system in the North of England. He died in 1966.
Anyone connected with the men who would like to attend the ceremony would be welcome.
They should contact Mark Andrew by e-mail on faxmark@blueyonder.co.uk or Margaret Darley, PA to the headteacher, at King James's School on 01423 798709.
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