James Eric Storrar, DFC & Bar, AFC (24 July 1921 – 29 March 1995) was a British flying ace who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.

He flew Hawker Hurricane fighters during the Battle of France, during which he claimed his first aerial victories.

Flying with this unit, he made the first landing by a British aircraft on the Normandy beachhead following the invasion of France of 6 June.

Educated at Chester City and Country School, he falsified his age to join the Royal Air Force (RAF) in October 1938 on a short-service commission.

In August, prior to completion of his six-month training course, he was transferred to the Blenheim Conversion Flight.

[4] Storrar claimed his first aerial victory on 23 May, destroying a Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter near Saint-Omer.

145 Squadron relocated to Tangmere and began to be involved in the aerial fighting over the English Channel during the early phase of the Battle of Britain.

[4] Storrar shot down a Heinkel He 111 medium bomber to the south of St Catherine's Point on 11 July.

In an engagement to the south east of Selsey Bill on 15 July, he claimed a Do 17 as destroyed but this was unconfirmed.

On 8 August, again flying to the south of Isle of Wight, he shot down two Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers, and damaged a third.

The citation, published in The London Gazette, read: This officer took part in the intensive fighting over Dunkirk last May, and has since been engaged in numerous successful actions.

His squadron was responsible for the destruction of twenty-one enemy aircraft in one day; he personally destroyed two of these.

145 Squadron was withdrawn to Drem in Scotland for a period of rest and recuperation under less strenuous conditions.

[4] Storrar's last aerial victory of the Battle of Britain was on 8 September, when he shared in shooting down a Do 17 near Montrose.

[7] Storrar claimed his first aerial victory in the Western Desert campaign on 6 January, shooting down a Fiat CR.42 fighter to the west of Tobruk.

[7] Storrar destroyed a Ju 87 to the south east of Derna on 8 April but was subsequently shot down himself by a Bf 110.

On one transport flight to Freetown, carried out on 21 June, he was flying in formation with other pilots when weather conditions forced them to make a landing in the jungle in Liberia.

In January 1943 he returned to operations with a promotion to acting squadron leader and a posting as commander of No.

For several weeks it was engaged in training for aircraft carrier operations, but moved to Perranporth in Cornwall in March, and then Selsey a few months later, performing bomber escort duties.

[11] Later that month he claimed a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter as probably destroyed near Le Havre.

[2][3] This Hurricane-equipped unit was created in anticipation of Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, for the purpose of delivering secret mail from Britain to the beachhead until communication links had been established.

Storrar was the commander of the unit and on 10 June, he piloted the first British aircraft to land in France since the commencement of the invasion.

Storrar later made at least one sortie to Paris for the purpose of delivering messages to the French Resistance, even before the advancing Allied forces secured the city.

[2] Returning to civilian life, Storrar trained in veterinary science at Edinburgh University.

[16] Following completion of his university studies, Storrar joined his family's veterinary practice in Chester, which had been operating for over 150 years.