Marmaduke Thomas St John Pattle, DFC & Bar (3 July 1914 – 20 April 1941), usually known as Pat Pattle, was a South African-born English Second World War fighter pilot and flying ace (an aviator credited with the destruction of five or more enemy aircraft in aerial combat) of the Royal Air Force (RAF).

The following day, having claimed more aerial victories than any other Western Allied pilot, he took off against orders, while suffering from a high temperature, to engage German aircraft near Athens.

[7] Although he had considered a career as a mining engineer, Pattle sent in an application to join the South African Air Force in 1932 and was employed in menial jobs while waiting for a response.

His passion for flying subsided, but an impromptu visit by a transport aircraft gave Pattle a close glimpse of it, which rekindled his interest.

At around the same time, the Ministry of Defence created the Special Service Battalion to employ South African youth who were struggling to find work because of the Great Depression.

The paper contained an advertisement by the Royal Air Force (RAF) which was offering five-year short service commissions for cadets throughout the British Empire.

The RAF expansion schemes required a great influx of capable personnel into the organisation as rearmament and the need for fighting men heightened.

He immediately returned to South Africa to arrange his migration to Britain and left aboard SS Llandovery Castle on 30 April 1936.

[20] He was shot down most probably by Italian Spanish Civil War ace Tenente (Lieutenant) Franco Lucchini of 90a Squadriglia, 10° Gruppo ("group"), 4° Stormo ("wing").

While leading 14 Gladiators of 80 Squadron in a surprise attack against 16 Fiat CR.42s from 9° and 10° Gruppi of 4° Stormo, over Gabr Saleh inside the Italian territory.

Much to Pattle's distaste, the squadron was heavily involved in close air support operations and ordered specifically to avoid air-to-air combat unless attacked.

[30] Pattle claimed two CR.42s in the battle — his wingman Heimar Stucky (himself wounded in action later on) witnessed both catch fire and crash in the vicinity of Korçë with the pilots killed.

In the Gjirokastër area, Pattle shot down an IMAM Ro.37bis from 42a Squadriglia, 72o Gruppo, and Sergente Luigi Del Manno and his observer, Tenente Michele Milano, were both killed.

Pattle — whose own aircraft was hit in the main fuel tank and a wing strut — claimed three CR.42s plus another and a Fiat CR.42 as probable victories — he had seen two of his victims bail out.

He expended all his ammunition and watched the Italian pilot attempt a crash-landing, only for the bomber to hit a tree and disintegrate 15 miles north of Kelcyre.

[48] The Regia Aeronautica claimed that day it lost just one CR.42 (as confirmed by Italian pilot Corrado Ricci, a participant in those battles),[46] plus four Fiat BR.20s and two G.50bis.

In a previous fight south of Vlorë, Pattle had to return to base with the windscreen covered by oil from a shot down enemy bomber.

Pattle claimed two victories over Bf 109Es over the Rupel Pass —Oberleutnant Arno Becker was killed and Leutnant Klaus Faber was captured.

It is believed he attacked a reconnaissance Dornier Do 17 from Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 ("dive bomber wing 2") which he claimed destroyed, though it appears it made it back to German lines damaged.

On 8 April, despite bad weather, Pattle led an attack on Petrich in Bulgaria and left a number of enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground.

[63][64] The air war intensified after a period of bad weather and the Luftwaffe began exerting severe pressure on communications and Allied ground forces.

The Allied forces were routed at Vevi and the Battle of the Metaxas Line had ended in total defeat for the Greek Army on 9 April.

One of the German pilots bailed out and Pattle watched in horror as the Greek soldiers guarding the airfield shot him dead as he floated down in his parachute.

As the wreckage of some old Greek aircraft and a captured SM.79 was being cleared up after the attack on 13 April, John D'Albiac, Air Officer Commanding British Forces in Greece, arrived to warn him of the Allied collapse in the north.

He engaged III./Jagdgeschwader 77 (Fighter Wing 77 or JG 77) in a head-on position and executed an Immelmann turn which took him behind and above the Messerschmitts and allowed him to claim three of them shot down.

[69][70] By dawn on 20 April 1941, the Germans were well aware that British and Allied forces had begun preliminary withdrawal operations from ports in southern Greece.

Barely 15 Hawker Hurricanes, the entire Allied air presence in Greece at the time, participated in a series of defensive missions over Athens.

[76] Surviving records show that the German claimants included Staffelkapitän Hauptmann Theodor Rossiwall and Oberleutnant Sophus Baagoe who were credited with kills against Hurricanes, taking their scores to 12 and 14 respectively.

[79][80] It is likely that his total was at least 40 enemy aircraft destroyed, a figure which biographer Edgar Baker has compiled through a list of semi-official records and log-books.

[82] Other research dedicated to the history of German bomber units, some of which took part in the air battles against Pattle's unit, have drawn attention to the fact that 97–98 percent of all German primary records belonging to the Luftwaffe have been lost either through Allied bombing or through Hermann Göring's order to destroy all records in the first week of May 1945.