Jefferson Wedgwood

Jefferson Wedgwood DFC & Bar (28 May 1917 – 17 December 1942) was a British flying ace of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.

He led this unit for several months during the Western Desert campaign in Egypt, shooting down a number of aircraft during this time.

Making a repatriation flight to England, he was killed on 17 December 1942 when the aircraft on which he was a passenger was shot down over Malta in a friendly fire incident.

He went to Holyrood School before going on to Lancing College after which, in March 1936, he joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) on a short service commission.

[3][4] At the time he joined the squadron, which operated the Hawker Hurricane fighter, it was in the process of rebuilding at Kirton-in-Lindsey after its involvement in the Battle of France.

[5] On 1 September, Wedgwood damaged a Dornier Do 17 medium bomber near Ashford, and three days later shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter south of Brooklands.

[3] After being rested towards the end of September, Wedgwood was posted to Cosford on 10 October to serve as an instructor at the Czechoslovak Depot there.

[3][7] This operated Hurricanes on defensive patrols over the Nile Delta and on 27 July, Wedgwood destroyed a Junkers Ju 87 dive bomber near Deir el Dhib, as well as damaging a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter.

92 Squadron's Spitfires had arrived and it became operational at Landing Ground 173 on 12 August, from where it sortied against the advancing Axis forces.

The same day, to the west of Hamman, he claimed the destruction of what he identified as a Bf 109 but which was actually a Macchi C.202 fighter of the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Air Force).

[1] The citation, published in The London Gazette on 2 October, read: In August, 1942, whilst patrolling the battle area, this officer led his squadron brilliantly in an attack against a superior number of enemy fighters.

[3] By this time, the British were on the offensive and the squadron provided cover for the advancing troops and carried out strafing sorties.

He was travelling as a passenger in a Handley Page Halifax transport on 17 December to commence his return to England when, in an instance of friendly fire, it was shot down by British anti-aircraft guns over Malta.