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Howard Peter "Cowboy" Blatchford DFC (25 February 1912 – 3 May 1943) a flying ace, who acquired the first Canadian victory in World War II. He was born in Edmonton, Alberta on 25 February 1912, and enrolled in the Royal Air Force in February 1936.〔http://www.cieldegloire.com/003_blatchford_h_p.php〕 He was then posted to No. 41 Squadron RAF in early 1937. In April 1940 he was posted to No. 212 Squadron RAF, flying photo-reconnaissance operations. In June he joined the Photographic Development Unit as a flight commander, later transferring to No. 17 Squadron RAF in September, flying Hurricanes. He soon joined No. 257 Squadron RAF, under the command of Sqn Ldr Robert Stanford Tuck.〔http://www.acesofww2.com/Canada/aces/blatchford.htm〕 Blatchford received the Distinguished Flying Cross in December 1940.
He became Commanding Officer of No. 257 Squadron RAF in July 1941.〔http://www.rcaf.com/archives/archives_general/aces/aces_ab.htm〕 Blatchford was then promoted to Wing Commander in September that year, becoming Wing leader of the Digby Wing. He finished his tour of duty in April 1942, returning to operations in February 1943 and Wing Commander of the Coltishall Wing. Leading the wing to escort bomber attacking a power station in Amsterdam, Blatchford was shot down and killed in action on 3 May 1943 by Obfw. Hans Ehlers of II Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 1. His body was never found. He is commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede.〔http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=1529953〕 Blatchford had by this time claimed 5 aircraft shot down, 3 shared aircraft shot down, 3 'probables', 4 damaged and 1 shared damaged.〔http://jpgleize.club.fr/aces/ww2can.htm〕 == References == * ''Aces High''- C.Shores & C.Williams (Grub Street 1991) page 133. * 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Howard Peter Blatchford」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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