William Rolls
William Thomas Edward Rolls DFC, DFM (6 August 1914 – July 1988) was a British flying ace of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) during the Second World War.
He shot down a number of aircraft before being hospitalised and repatriated to the United Kingdom as a consequence of injuries received during the aftermath of a bombing raid.
Born in Edmonton, London, on 6 August 1914, William Thomas Edward Rolls, known as Bill, was a scholarship student at The Latymer School.
Once his education was completed, he worked as an engineering apprentice in a family member's company and as a sideline, made leather goods.
[1][2] On the outbreak of the Second World War, Rolls was called up for service in the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a sergeant pilot.
His unit operated Supermarine Spitfire fighters from Acklington, in Northumberland, but at the end of August it moved to Biggin Hill, where it would be heavily involved in the Battle of Britain.
11 Group, which bore the brunt of the British aerial defence against the increasing attacks of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force).
72 Squadron's arrival at Biggin Hill, Rolls shot down two German aircraft, a Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter and a Dornier Do 17 medium bomber, over Kent.
His squadron commander recommended him for the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM),[4] and this was duly announced in The London Gazette in November.
The published citation read: This airman, after very short experience of operational flying, has taken his place with the best war pilots in the squadron.
[10] Furious subsequently carried a load of Spitfires and pilots, Rolls among them, for reinforcement of Malta's fighter squadrons, sailing from Greenock in Scotland in late July, bound for Gibraltar.
126 Squadron and was soon in action; on 13 August while patrolling over a shipping convoy during Operation Pedestal, he was credited with destroying a Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber that was attacking the oil tanker SS Ohio.
Approaching Syracuse, he saw the wake of what he assumed was an E-boat but as he flew closer to attack, he realised it was a Dornier Do 24 flying boat that had just taken off.
[14] The Axis powers stepped up their aerial offensive against Malta in October, with a number of Luftwaffe units transferred to Sicily and North Africa for this purpose.
[15] Rolls, promoted to flying officer at the start of the month, was one of several pilots scrambled in the afternoon of 11 October to deal with an incoming raid mounted by 16 Ju 88s that were escorted by over 40 fighters of the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force).
He destroyed one Reggiane Re.2001 fighter and damaged another but was attacked in turn; despite his engine being struck by bullets, he safely returned to the squadron's base at Luqa.
[21] The intensity of aerial operations eased in November for Malta's fighter pilots but during the month Rolls suffered a broken leg when the wall of a building, damaged during a bombing raid, fell on him.
[5] Rolls was repatriated to England for treatment and during his return flight, the Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat on which he was travelling ran out of fuel.
During his hospitalisation at the Royal Naval Hospital in Swansea, his award of a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) was announced in The London Gazette.
