Braham undertook more intruder sorties into German-occupied Europe at this point and received a second bar to his DFC in June 1943 and by September 1943 had gained seven more victories, including three, possibly four, German night fighter aces.

Braham's war came to an end on 24 June 1944 when he was shot down by a pair of single-engine German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters.

Having held office at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Braham retired from military life and began working as a civilian for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

He was frequently absent owing to his father's ministerial appointments which forced the family to continually relocate and consequently his concentration and grades declined.

He considered moving abroad to join the Colonial Police in the British Overseas Territories and briefly entertained training as a sailor in the Merchant Navy.

A great many pilots relied on basic non-AI tactics which usually meant co-operating with search lights and using the aircrew's eyesight to seek out intruders.

By the time Braham and his squadron were called upon to defend Britain from air attacks in August 1940, after the collapse of the Netherlands, Belgium and France in May–June 1940, British night fighter defences were very weak.

On one occasion the hydraulic pipe fractured in the Blenheim he was flying which caused the landing gear to fail and prompted Braham to force-land.

The Blenheim was piloted by Braham, and contained air gunner Sergeant Wilsdon and aircraftman and trained radar operator N. Jacobson.

[14] Braham's only other interaction with the enemy occurred at Ternhill, when a Junkers Ju 88 dropped bombs on the airfield destroying 13 Avro Ansons and damaged 20 more.

Braham flew nine operations in this month and enhanced his skills by completing a blind-flying course which taught pilots to fly in low-visibility conditions.

The dead pilot's Iron Cross (Eisernes Kreuz) was sent to Braham and a souvenir along with two Luftwaffe lifejackets which he preferred to the bulkier British design.

[20] The Blitz ended as the Luftwaffe moved its forces to support Operation Barbarossa and the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 and air raids slackened.

29s area of operations) and fearing being lost or pursuing the He 111 too low into Barrage balloons, Braham ended the chase and claimed a probable.

The victory was witnessed by United States Army Air Force personnel on a visit to a radar station near the coast.

Although drinking and driving was not a criminal offence, the police charged him with damaging public property and fined him £5, the equivalent of a week's wages.

Serrate operations started in June 1943 and were given greater impetus as the Battle of the Ruhr was intensifying and Bomber Command's losses to German night fighters increased.

After one sortie against shipping the armourers were drenched in salt water and seaweed when they opened the panel housing the cannons with the intention of replacing spent ammunition.

Four nights later, on the 28/29 September whilst carrying out an intruder operation between Celle and Hanover Braham encountered what he identified to be a Do 217 which engaged him in a dogfight.

The Luftwaffe kept a number of operational units in the region so he flew to Coltishall in Norfolk to be nearer his destination and conserve fuel during the sortie.

At zero feet his Mosquito bounced off a mound but he managed to hit the enemy aircraft which burst into flames, stalled and crashed near Aalborg.

[57] On 25 June 1944 he collected a Mosquito from 21 Squadron and the Australian navigator Don Walsh and then flew to Norfolk to refuel at West Raynham.

As they neared land Braham and Walsh noticed a slight whine in the aircraft's radio speakers meaning the Mosquito was being tracked by radar.

Braham believed they might attack him and he had thought about grabbing the gun, fighting it out with the German guards, finding a friendly Dane and making it to Sweden somehow.

Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Propaganda Minister, had painted all British and Allied airmen as "terror flyers" and his message resonated with civilians.

He learned that Spreckels had lost his parents in a British air attack and was surprised when the German dismissed the fact with the words "it is the war."

Braham had also become despondent about the political climate in a country that reduced Winston Churchill to Leader of the Opposition, where the black market was rife and rationing was set to become an indefinite feature of post-war Britain into the 1950s.

Coupled with rationing and a declining standard of living and low-wages, Braham resigned from the RAF in March 1946 and applied to join the Rhodesian Colonial Police.

In the summer 1960, the family moved to Paris, when he was appointed senior officer at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE).

Oberleutnant H von Keiser, Leutnant B Meyer, and Feldwebel's Heinz Genahr and Rucker were all killed—the latter's body washed ashore in June 1941.