Group Captain 'Flash' Pleasance, was the leader of six medium bombers sent on a daylight attack against German forces which were advancing on the beleaguered British Expeditionary Force in the spring of 1940, the formation met murderous antiaircraft fire, and Pleasance's was the only aircraft to survive the raid.

The Blenheim squadrons of No 2 Group had been thrown into the battle to stem the advance of the German army after the virtual annihilation of the RAF's Fairey Battle squadrons based in France to support the BEF.

Pleasance was one of the most experienced pilots in No 107 Squadron, commanded by the charismatic Basil Embry, and he took part in the squadron's first raid on May 14, when German columns were bombed. Flying in daylight without fighter escort, the Blenheims suffered terrible losses over the following weeks, during which Pleasance was in constant action.

Or the morning of May 27, Embry led his squadron of 12 aircraft to attack St Omer. It was to be his final operation before handing over command of 107 that afternoon to his flight commander, who was flying in the same formation.

Pleasance, who was at the head of the second section of six aircraft, watched as Embry parachuted to safety after being shot down by antiaircraft fire. Later Pleasance commented: 'I must be one of the very few who saw one squadron commander hand over his command to his successor in the air!"

Pleasance was a particularly skilful pilot, and was frequently selected to carry out solo reconnaissance sorties to identify the direction of enemy advances. On June 7 he took off at dawn to fly a low-level recce to obtain information on where the Germans were crossing the Somme between St Valery and Abbeville.

He found a column of transports, which he machine-gunned then, seeing 30 German aircraft on an advanced airfield, shot them up too. He attacked three Stuka dive-bombers, but this attracted a number of German fighters. By flying at treetop height, he was able to shake them off and, finding another road column, he attacked it in the face of intense ground fire.

At this point, his luck ran out. He was wounded in the leg, and the Blenheim was badly damaged. Pleasance made a skilful forced landing in a field, where British troops helped him and his two crew members to destroy the aircraft. He was taken to a field hospital at Rouen, before making his way to La Rochelle, where he boarded a hospital ship for Portsmouth. Pleasance was awarded an immediate DFC for "displaying great gallantry and a deep devotion to duty".

The son of a grocer, Harold Percival Pleasance was born on 12 April 1914 at Golders Green, North London, and educated at the Strand Secondary School, Brixton. He joined the RAF on a short service commission in July 1936. He was already known to his friends as Harry, and soon gained his lifetime nickname "Flash" to go with it.

After completing his flying training, he joined No 45 Squadron at Helwan in Egypt, flying the Vincent biplane before the squadron was equipped with the long-range Wellesley bomber. En route to Kenya, the throttle of Pleasance's aircraft remained stuck in the open position, and he was forced to land at Wadi Halfa. An extended landing run came to an abrupt halt with the Wellesley straddling the wall of a cemetery.

In 1939 the squadron started to re-equip with the Blenheim, and Pleasance returned to England to get a new machine. His visit coincided with the outbreak of war so he was press-ganged' into becoming a flight commander in #107 Squadron, based in Suffolk.

In January 1941 his old CO, Basil Embry, who had recently escaped from France, was forming a night-fighter wing, and asked for Pleasance to be posted to No 25 Squadron as a flight commander. Flying the Beaufighter from Wittering, near Stamford, Pleasance gained his first success on May 4 when he damaged a German bomber off the Suffolk coast.

Two nights later he shot down a Dornier 17 bomber off Skegness, and the next night another off Wells. After shooting down a Junkers 88 near Swaf ham, he was awarded a Bar to his DFC.

Pleasance was promoted wing commander of No 25 in August 1941. By the time he relinquished command a year later, he had destroyed five enemy aircraft, probably destroyed another and damaged a further two.

After completing the Army Staff College course in August 1943, Pleasance spent the next 18 months as the wing commander operations at HQ Tactical Air Force at Bracknell, where he once again worked for Embry, and where he was responsible for cocoordinating tactical air operations over France and the Low Countries. For his work in planning the air operations leading up to D-Day, and those conducted after the Normandy landings, he was mentioned in dispatches. 

In January 1945 Pleasance left for Burma as an acting group captain and joined No 224 Group as the air liaison officer with XV Corps operating in the Arakan. The campaign in Burma had changed from a static, defensive role to one of mobility and rapid movement - and Pleasance's ground attack and fighter aircraft provided crucial support as the 14th Army advanced to Rangoon. For his services with XV Corps he was appointed OBE.

EDITOR NOTE - OBE refers to "Officer of the British Empire".

Pleasance joined the planning staff for Operation Zipper, the projected invasion of Malaya, which eventually took place as an exercise after the Japanese surrender. He remained in Burma until August 1946, when he was mentioned in dispatches a second time.

EDITOR NOTE - Being "mentioned in dispatches" was a big deal for anyone in the British military.

He continued in the RAF after the war, commanding No 22 Squadron in Singapore before returning to the UK to complete the joint services' staff college course. He had a number of appointments in Fighter Command before assuming command in January 1956 of RAF Chivenor in north Devon, the home of the RAF's Hunter fighter training unit.

Pleasance retired from the RAF in 1960 and settled in Devon, running a hotel at Mortehoe for eight years before acquiring an electrical shop in Barnstaple, which he operated for 11 years.

"Flash" Pleasance, who died on April 29, man Fed his wife Peggy in February 1942. She died in 1995 and he is survived by a son and a daughter.

More great history of a World War veteran. Thanks EDDIE and to our other Members, we encourage all Members to research and write about World War II history.