Athol Forbes, OBE, DFC & Bar (4 April 1912 – 18 August 1981) was a British flying ace who served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.

Athol Stanhope Forbes was born on 4 April 1912 in London, England, although one source indicates Stratford-upon-Avon as his place of birth.

[1][2] Forbes joined the RAF on a short service commission in 1935, commencing his initial training in November of that year.

[6] Forbes was still instructing at the School of Army Co-operation at the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, and it was not until July 1940 that he was sent to No.

303 Squadron, based at Northolt in early August, Forbes was one of its flight commanders, the other being the Canadian pilot John Kent.

According to Kent, Forbes was fluent in French, which helped the Polish pilots familiarise themselves with RAF procedures and practices.

[1][8][9] Forbes first aerial victory was achieved on 4 September, when he shot down a Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber near Thameshaven.

[5][10] Kellett and Kent had also been slightly wounded the same day so henceforth, it was decided that only one of the squadron's British officer would fly at a time, which meant that on occasion, Forbes would lead it on scrambles to intercept incoming Luftwaffe raids.

[1] A few days later, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), in recognition of his recent successes in the Battle of Britain.

The published citation read: This officer is a splendid leader and has contributed materially to the many successes obtained by his squadron.

He has displayed great keenness in pressing home his attacks against the enemy and has destroyed seven of their aircraft.Subsequently, the Polish government-in-exile awarded Forbes its Silver Cross of the War Order of Virtuti Militari in further recognition of his leadership role with No.

From August, the squadron regularly flew to German-occupied Europe, escorting bombers and using Coltishall as a staging post.

In addition to many arduous convoy patrols he has led wing formations as escort to bombers on missions over France; he has also carried out many attacks on enemy ground targets with a large measure of success.

At his own request he has been permitted to make long flights out over the sea, alone in an endeavour to engage enemy aircraft.At the time Forbes was awarded the Bar to his DFC, he was on staff duties at the headquarters of No.

[18][19] In the 1944 New Year Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire; the citation noted his services during the Arakan campaign.

[1][18] Forbes ended the war credited with the destruction of nine German aircraft, two of which being shared with other pilots.

Returning to civilian life, he worked for Cameroons Air Transport as the company's operations manager.