Jean Maridor

No. 615 Squadron spent several months based at Valley, the RAF station on Anglesey where it carried out monotonous patrols over the Irish Sea and covered shipping convoys. In the autumn of 1941, it went on the offensive, relocating to Manston and flying sorties to France and Belgium to attack targets of opportunity.[3] On 14 October 1941, Maridor and another pilot intercepted and destroyed a Heinkel He 59 floatplane off Ostend.[1] In the winter months, in resumed patrolling duties over the Irish Sea and also, being based at Angle, the Bristol Channel.[1]

In February 1942 Maridor was commissioned as a pilot officer and posted to No. 91 Squadron.[1] His new unit was based at Hawkinge and operated the Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb fighter on sorties and sweeps to France and Belgium. It was also engaged in escort duties for Air-Sea Rescue aircraft.[4] On 7 September, Maridor, flying near Ostend, claimed a Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber as probably destroyed. He damaged a Focke Wulf 190 fighter near Cap Gris-Nez on 26 October and at the end of the month destroyed a Fw 190 and damaged a second over the Dover Straits. On 2 November he claimed a Fw 190 as probably destroyed off Le Touquet. Later in the month he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.[1][5]

No. 91 Squadron was briefly rested from operations in April 1943 so it could reequip with Spitfire Mk XIIs but resumed operations the following month. Maridor destroyed a Fw 190 over the English Channel on 25 May, one of five claimed by the squadron that day, and shortly afterwards was rested.[1][4] By this time he has been appointed to the French Order of Liberation as well as the Croix de Guerre and several palms.[5] Promoted to flying officer, he spent time as an instructor at No. 61 OTU, before returning to the squadron in autumn 1943. He destroyed one Fw 190 over Beauvais and damaged a second on 24 September. The squadron's activities was now largely based around flying bomber escort missions and attacking shipping, work which escalated as the invasion of Normandy approached.[1][4]

Shortly after the Normandy landings, the Germans began targeting the south of England with V-1 flying bombs. No. 91 Squadron, now equipped with Spitfire Mk XIVs, were among the fighter squadrons tasked with intercepting these as part of Operation Diver, the RAF's campaign against the V-1s. By 3 August and now a flight lieutenant, Maridor had destroyed ten V-1s. That day, he spotted a V-1 approaching the village of Benenden, in Kent. Realising that it was about to fall on Benenden School, at the time a military hospital, he intercepted it at close range and destroyed it with cannon fire. While this saved the hospital, the exploding V-1 damaged his own aircraft so badly that it crashed into the ground, killing him. He was due to be married to Jean Lambourne, an officer in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, the following week.[1][4][6]