ONE OF CHURCHILL’S OWN The Memoirs of Battle of Britain Ace John Greenwood

John Greenwood, born 3 April 1921 in East London, was a British Royal Air Force flying ace who fought in the Battle of Britain. At eighteen, he forged his father’s signature to join the RAF on a short service commission in February 1939. Seven months later, as Britain declared war, he joined the newly formed 253 Squadron and, with only twenty-four hours’ notice, was deployed to France. There, he shot down a Dornier 17 and a Messerschmitt 109 before returning to England with just four pilots and three aircraft.
After 253 Squadron reformed at Kirton-in-Lindsey, Greenwood flew in the Battle of Britain from Kenley, claiming a Heinkel III, half a Junkers 88, and a Messerschmitt 109. Despite being credited with five and a half victories, he was controversially never awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross.
Emigrating to Australia in the 1950s, Greenwood returned to London for the twenty-fifth, fiftieth, and sixtieth anniversaries of the Battle of Britain and, in 2005, the unveiling of the Battle of Britain Monument. He passed away in 2014 as the last surviving member of 253 Squadron, one of Churchill’s final living “Few.” This book recounts his extraordinary wartime service and enduring legacy.