George Cecil Unwin, DSO, DFM & Bar (18 January 1913 – 28 June 2006) was an officer in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and a flying ace of the Second World War.

From Yorkshire, Unwin joined the RAF in 1929 as an apprentice and served at Uxbridge as a clerk once he had completed his training.

George Cecil Unwin was born in the town of Bolton upon Dearne, near Barnsley, Yorkshire, on 18 January 1913.

[4] Unwin was heavily involved in the integration of the Spitfire into RAF service; he was one of five pilots that completed 500 hours of flying time between them during testing.

As he neared a field that he had selected for landing, he spotted children playing on his intended path of travel; he deliberately crashed his aircraft to avoid them.

19 Squadron was mostly engaged in convoy patrols but in late May 1940 it moved to Hornchurch from where it was involved in providing aerial cover over the beaches at Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France.

[4] The squadron made its first sortie to France on 26 May but Unwin was forced to miss it due to a lack of serviceable aircraft.

Unwin's first combat sortie came the next day, and he claimed a Henschel Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft as destroyed over Dunkirk.

Feigning radio failure, Unwin engaged the Hs 126, seeing it burst into flames and crash.

After urging from the squadron's commander, it soon reverted to machine-gun equipped aircraft and regularly flew as part of No.

[7] Unwin's successes saw him awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM), the official announcement being made in The London Gazette on 1 October.

The published citation read: This airman has displayed great courage in his attacks against the enemy and has destroyed ten of their aircraft.

He has displayed skill and courage of the highest order.On 5 November Unwin destroyed a Bf 109 near Dover.

Despite Unwin successfully evading them, a Luftwaffe pilot, Gerhard Schöpfel, alleged that he had shot him down in the engagement.

[7][11] This was announced on 6 December, the published citation reading: This airman has shown the greatest keenness, courage and determination to engage the enemy.

He is an outstanding fighter pilot and has destroyed a total of thirteen enemy aircraft and assisted in the destruction of others.Unwin was rested at the end of the year and sent on an instructing course to No.

[16] He instructed at Leconfield until June 1946 at which time he was assigned to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, serving with No.

[17] For nearly two years, commencing in September 1947, he was a staff officer at various RAF headquarters before being given an operational command, of No.

His new unit was based in Iraq and operated Bristol Brigand bombers but in April 1950, it was moved to Singapore and became engaged in the Malaya conflict.

His final posting in the RAF, back in the United Kingdom, commenced in May 1958; he was the service's Permanent President of Court Martial.