The
Signatories
Signed by the RAF’s
top night-fighter pilot Wing Commander Branse Burbridge
DSO and Bar, DFC and Bar (85 Sqn. Pilot) gained
his wings in 1941. Putting duty before personal feelings
as a conscientious objector Branse, together with
his navigator, Bill Skelton, became known as
“The Night Hawk Partners”.
The
two of them went on to shoot down 21 enemy aircraft
- 16 during a seven-month period. The total included
a Bf110 and three Ju88Gs during the night of 4-5 November
1944. Their officially credited 21 enemy aircraft
destroyed made the pair the top night fighting crew
in the whole of the RAF. Branse recalls,
“I always tried to aim for the wings of enemy
aircraft – and not the cockpit. I never wanted
to kill anyone.” The citations for their awards
paid tribute to both men setting “an unsurpassed
example of outstanding keenness and devotion to duty”.