[1] During the war, he was nicknamed 'Cat's Eyes' by the British press to explain his success and to avoid communicating the existence of airborne radar to the Germans.

Temporarily abiding by his father's wishes for him to avoid the military, he approached the de Havilland company, and was accepted as an engineering candidate.

In January 1940, 604 Squadron moved to RAF Northolt and flew Blenheims adorned with the Finnish Air Force's blue swastika to Finland via Sweden to assist the country after the Soviet invasion.

In April, the squadron flew as escort for a de Havilland Flamingo carrying Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, to Paris, to attend a meeting after Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Denmark and Norway.

Most of the unit's time during the Phoney War was spent in intensive training over The Wash, which included co-operation with searchlights and mine-laying operations.

The spot in the centre provided the aiming point, and the ring, of variable diameter, helped him to judge the range and amount of deflection needed to attack a target.

[18] Air marshal Sholto Douglas formed the Night Fighting Committee, and met regularly at RAF Bentley Priory to discuss operational problems.

He made the acquaintance of Philip Joubert de la Ferté, Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), who dropped in on 604 as well as Douglas; the two men were always keen to hear the experiences of the crew.

The equipment consisted of a receiver, transmitter, control panel, modulator, indicator unit, and a system of fixed dipole aerials.

After closing the range as much as he dared, he pulled up and fired with all four cannons, downing the Junkers Ju 88 bomber,[1][2] which exploded upon hitting the ground near Wittering, Cambridgeshire at 00:35.

87 Squadron RAF pilot, Flight lieutenant Derek Ward claimed the victory, as he saw a glow which he fired at before it hit the sea.

Pilot Leo Roth and crew members Oberfeldwebel Wilhelm Franke, and Unteroffizier Walter Rüggeberg and Fritz Unterieser were killed.

[45][46][47] In April, having shot down at least ten aircraft in night-fighting operations, Cunningham was decorated with his first Distinguished Service Order (DSO).

Small numbers of bombers would make hit-and-run attacks on selected targets near the coast for the remainder of 1941, replacing the mass raids of the preceding autumn and winter.

Enraged by the attack, Adolf Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to begin retaliatory strikes, which began the so-called Baedeker Blitz.

Cunningham forced him down to 900 feet (270 metres), but Rawnsley and GCI lost contact when the ground clutter hid the Heinkel's signal.

The pilot, Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) Hauptmann Siegried Langer was killed, along with his crew, Oberfeldwebel G. Schmidt, Feldwebel D. Hoffmann, P. Gaidies, and Gefreiter W.

The German pilots were disadvantaged in some respects: there was a lack of night-flying experience in these units, and the Fw 190s did not carry radar and had a short range.

To his amazement, Cunningham later learned the pilot; Leutnant Ullrich from 3./Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 (Fast Bomber Wing 10, SKG 10), was thrown through the canopy as the Fw 190A-5, Werknummer, 840047 code CO+LT, fell earthwards.

Although he was not familiar with the workings of the de Havilland Goblin turbojet, he recommended that if the cockpit was extended to allow for a navigator and the fuel tanks were enlarged, the type could make a formidable interceptor.

One of his former commanding officers and current Group captain Edward Crew; an ace with 15 enemy aircraft and 31 V-1s shot down, was forced to bail out when the nose of his Mosquito was split open.

Cunningham was offered a permanent commission in the RAF; but he feared his career, if he stayed, would become mired in administration, policy-making, staff courses, and committees.

Cunningham knew the family well and contacted de Havilland's father, whose other son John had been killed in a collision while flying a Mosquito in 1943.

[1] On 23 May 1952, he flew the Comet, now a highly successful export, carrying the recently widowed Queen Mother and Princess Margaret on a four-hour tour around the Alps.

Later, Cunningham acted as a consultant and advisor to the Chinese Government from 1972 to 1979, as the company sought to increase its revenue by selling aircraft to China.

Cunningham suffered two crushed vertebra, but he remained chief test pilot at Hawker Siddeley until 1978, when British Aerospace was formed.

In 1980, he was appointed Chairman of the Sir Geoffrey de Havilland Flying Foundation, a charity to devoted to helping young people with aspirations in aviation.

[1] In recognition of his wartime exploits[citation needed] and his contribution to civil aviation, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1963 Birthday Honours.

[96] Following Cunningham's death in 2002, his service medals and flying memorabilia passed to the de Havilland Aircraft Company Trust.

[citation needed] The medals were subsequently sold on 6 September 2012 for £384,000 to help raise funds for an education centre, museum, and flying scholarships for young people on behalf of the Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust Appeal.