George Hill (RCAF officer)
George Urquhart Hill, DFC & Two Bars (29 October 1918 – 12 November 1969) was a flying ace who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) during the Second World War.
In April he crash landed in France and although he initially evaded the Germans, he was eventually captured and spent the rest of the war in captivity.
Hill preferred to serve in an operational posting, putting in numerous requests to his senior officers to this effect and in January 1942, he was sent to the United Kingdom.
On 19 August, the squadron made several sorties flying from Manston in support of Operation Jubilee, the Allied landings at Dieppe.
[6] It was flying extensively during the Allied advance into Tunisia and Hill claimed two Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters as damaged near Souk-el-Khemis on 4 February.
[1][6] On 1 May, Hill was one of several pilots that engaged and shot down a Heinkel He 111 medium bomber to the west of Isle de Plane.
111 Squadron and read: Flight Lieutenant Hill is a skilful leader whose ability has been well in evidence during recent operations.
He has participated in many sorties and has destroyed four enemy aircraft.Within a matter of days, he was awarded a Bar to his DFC, this time reflecting his successes as commander of the squadron.
The published citation read: This officer has led the squadron with great success and since early April 1943 has destroyed five enemy aircraft.
[6][9] With his squadron acting as escort to several fighter-bombers attacking Biscari Airfield, Hill shot down a Bf 109 near Acate on 3 July.
With the Allied invasion of Sicily underway, he destroyed two aircraft on 13 July, the first a Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber intercepted while patrolling over the landing beaches in the morning and then a Fw 190 later in the day.
[1][11] Later in the month, with a beach head now established in Sicily after the Allied landings, the squadron began operating from Comiso.
[13] He was well received in his home town of Pictou, where he was feted and presented with a watch and also made public speeches in aid of the war effort.
[2][3] In January 1944, Hill returned to active duty with a posting to the United Kingdom as the commander of the newly formed No.
Based at Digby and equipped with Spitfire Vbs, the squadron was in training and did not become operational until late March by which time it had received the newer Mk IXs.
Now based at Westhampnett, Hill's squadron was part of a RCAF fighter wing of Spitfires operating with the Second Tactical Air Force, carrying out sorties to occupied France in anticipation of the invasion of Normandy.
[1][2][3] Hill ended the war credited with having definitively shot down eighteen aircraft, eight of which being shared with other pilots while also probably destroying three others.
[1] On being released from captivity and returning to Canada, Hill commenced studying medicine at Dalhousie Medical School, from which he graduated in 1950.
