Richard John Cork

It was during Operation Pedestal in 1942 that he became the only Royal Navy pilot to shoot down five aircraft in one day, and was the leading naval ace using the Hawker Hurricane.

[1] He was given command of the 15th Naval Fighter Wing aboard HMS Victorious before being killed in a flying accident over Ceylon in 1944.

[3] In the months prior to the war the Royal Navy encouraged school leavers to enlist by offering them short-service commissions.

Paul Brickhill states that, at the insistence of the Admiralty, the DFC was exchanged for a Distinguished Service Cross (DSC).

[10][11][12] However, Hugh Halliday corrects this myth and advises that the DFC was recommended by Bader but actually awarded as the naval equivalent, the DSC, in the London Gazette issue of 18 October,[13][11] although he confirms that as squadron commander Bader insisted that Cork wear the ribbon of the DFC while serving with the RAF; this is confirmed by contemporary photographs.

[14] Out of the 58 Fleet Air Arm pilots seconded to the RAF during the Battle of Britain, 12 of them shot down at least one aircraft, five became aces, seven were killed and two wounded.

[16] After this attack, 880 Squadron joined the newly built fleet carrier HMS Indomitable in October 1941,[17] and Cork was promoted to lieutenant the following month.

[3] One of the squadron's first operations with Indomitable involved the attack on Vichy French gun positions during the landings at Diego Suarez, Madagascar on 6 May 1942.

[18] On 12 August 1942, during Operation Pedestal, he became the only Royal Navy pilot to shoot down five aircraft in one day, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 10 November 1942.