The Last Enemy

By Richard Hillary

Richard Hillary's book The Last Enemy was first published in the UK in 1942 just seven months before his untimely death. It is an extraordinary first-hand account of the experiences of a young man swept into the Battle of Britain as a Spitfire pilot.
The book is in two parts, beginning with his time at Trinity College, Oxford, where he was a successful oarsman and carefree student. Joining the RAF Volunteer Reserve he displayed an undisciplined approach towards flying training schools whilst making new acquaintances prompted some reappraisal of his attitude to life.
His descriptions of flying a Spitfire are gripping as we share both the horror and excitement of close combat in the air.
Shot down over the English Channel on 3 September 1940 he is seriously burned and comes under the care of Archibald McIndoe and his pioneering reconstructive plastic surgery. He writes in graphic detail but with no self-pity of the operations and pain endured during his long stints in hospital at East Grinstead. Towards the end of the book he eloquently portrays his inner struggles and relates an epiphany that inspired him to write this book. The Last Enemy is undoubtedly one of the most important and compelling books to have been written during recent wars and will stay with you as you reflect on Hillary's short but eventful life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
• Release date: Nov 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781913568689

Richard Hillary

Richard Hillary was a British fighter pilot during the Second World War. This is the story of his life.

Book preview

The Last Enemy

by

Richard Hillary

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death

1 CORINTHIANS XV. 26

For

D. M. W.

Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgements

Foreword

PROEM

Book One

1. Under the Munich Umbrella

2. Before Dunkirk

3. Spitfires

4. The World of Peter Pease

5. The Invaders

Book Two

6. Shall I Live for a Ghost?

7. The Beauty Shop

8. The Last of the Long‑Haired Boys

9. I see they got you too

Copyright

Acknowledgements

The Last Enemy is a book that has fascinated me since I was a boy. It is a frank telling of the short life of a brave Spitfire pilot who captures in his account the excitement, fear and often visceral nature of air conflict and its physical consequences. We are privileged to join Richard Hillary on his journey to meet his last enemy. It is a humbling book for many reasons and publishing this new edition of his original text fulfils a long-held ambition.

I was delighted that Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, Lord Selkirk of Douglas, so kindly agreed to write a new foreword for this compelling book. His current association with Richard Hillary is through his role as an Honorary Air Commodore to No.603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron RAuxAF. I would like to thank him for his time and the enjoyable phone calls which gave me the chance to also hear about his father, Douglas Douglas-Hamilton’s, epic flight over Everest in 1933. Lord Selkirk is an author of note and I would highly recommend his book The Air Battle for Malta: The Diaries of a Spitfire Pilot. The Spitfire pilot in question was James’s uncle, Lord David Douglas-Hamilton one of four brothers who made history by simultaneously being at the rank of squadron leader or above at the outset of World War II. He himself commanded No. 603 Squadron from 18 December 1941 until 20 July 1944 and was a friend of Richard Hillary, sadly perishing on a reconnaissance mission in August 1944.

I am also indebted to David Ross for his generosity in making photographs from his collection available for this edition. David has been instrumental in ensuring that Richard Hillary is remembered but also ensuring that the facts about his life are correctly related. His excellent, definitive biography of Richard Hillary is a firm recommendation for anyone interested in reading more about Hillary’s life. David‘s research took him to the site of RAF Charterhall on many occasions and it was during one such trip that he decided that a memorial should be erected there. As a result of his hard work, on 6th November 2001, a memorial was unveiled on the site of RAF Charterhall by HRH The Duke of Kent KG in memory of Richard Hillary and the many others who died during the conflict.

Without the cheerful assistance of Clare Hopkins, the Archivist at Trinity College, I would have missed some important photographs and enjoyable email exchanges. Andrew Webb at the Imperial War Museum has been most helpful in sourcing images as have the team at The National Archives of Canada.

The bringing together of this new edition was concluded during lockdown constraints as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic which could have made this enterprise so much more difficult. Therefore helpful pointers from Maureen Emerson, Tim Koch, Goran Buckhorn and direction from Gareth Howard of Clink Street Publishing have been much appreciated. Thank you to everyone else who has contributed ideas, comments and encouragement, especially my wife and family who are always so supportive and patient.

Final thanks to my good friend, Jo Hall, who proofread the manuscript so diligently and shared her illuminating insight on Richard Hillary.

This is the first book to be published by Daredevil Books and I think it sets the bar high as an exemplar for the rediscovery of great accounts of courage, bravery and achievement from which we can all learn.

Toby Hartwell

Daredevil Books 2020

Foreword

Lord James Douglas-Hamilto

Lord Selkirk of Douglas PC, QC, MA, LLB, MSP

An Honorary Air Commodore to No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron RAuxAF

In this 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain Richard Hillary is remembered as a distinguished young fighter pilot and a talented author who vividly and sensitively commemorated, through his classic book, all the pilots who took part in the first major battle of the Second World War, fought entirely in the air. The title he chose was arresting, and it was a quote from The First Epistle of Paul The Apostle to The Corinthians, where he names death as The Last Enemy to be conquered.¹

The Battle of Britain, fought through that Summer of 1940 was a desperately needed strategic victory involving countless deadly duels in the sky. The RAF pilots flying Hurricanes and Spitfires were hugely outnumbered and were fighting against the Luftwaffe, whose pilots were striving to gain air supremacy. The enemy had to gain control of the skies to pave the way for the forces of Hitler`s Operation Sea Lion, whose objective it was to surge across the Channel unmolested, taking the armed forces of the Third Reich right on to Britain`s beaches and beyond.

Richard Hillary was in many ways the archetypal Battle of Britain hero; youthful, skilful, brave and determined. Born in Australia, he had been educated in England at Shrewsbury School and at Trinity College, Oxford, where he had joined the University Air Squadron and learned how to fly.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously described Richard Hillary and his comrades as The Few who saved The Many, but in fact a total of 544 pilots and aircrew lost their lives in this intense and traumatic struggle, as did some 312 ground forces on the aerodromes from German bombing. In that same memorable speech in the House of Commons the Prime Minister made his famous assertion that never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. He also spoke about the airmen as being undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger…².

Richard Hillary`s greatest friend in No 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron was Peter Pease who gave Richard this reason for fighting. If the Germans win this war, nobody except little Hitlers will dare do anything…All courage will die out of the world-the courage to love, to create, to take risks, whether physical or intellectual or moral…Thus all love, all spontaneity, will die out of the world. Emotion will have atrophied. Thought will have petrified…. and mankind will wither.³

Today in The RAF Club in London close to the RAF Bomber Command Memorial for all those who had lost their lives with Bomber Command, there is an oil painting of a strong powerful pilot, with a friendly expression on his face. It is Peter Pease, who participated in the Battle of Britain.

In Richard Hillary`s case, terrible injuries sustained in the battle caused him to become a troubled man. Whilst recovering in hospital, under anaesthetics he had a premonition that Peter Pease had not seen a Messerschmitt sneaking up behind him and had been killed. Richard woke up in great distress, and shortly after he received a letter informing him that Peter Pease had lost his life.

Since the victory of the Battle of Britain there have been annual services in the United Kingdom to commemorate the young men who lost their lives during this life and death struggle. Richard Hillary himself had lost many of his friends, like Peter Pease, and he met his own Last Enemy when on 8th January 1943 he crashed at the controls of a British Blenheim during training in Berwickshire. He and his navigator Sergeant Wifrid Fison died instantly. Richard was just 23. If he and his navigator had lived, two hymns might have been to their liking at Commemorations to come. The first was Courage, Brother, Do not stumble, Though thy path be dark as night.⁴ The second, Thy hand, O God, Has Guided also had the same concern and two prophetic lines of prediction written many years before the Battle of Britain, which were Through many a day of darkness, Through many a scene of Strife, The Faithful Few fought bravely to guard the nation`s life.⁵

Before his untimely death Richard Hillary as a Spitfire pilot had shot down some five enemy aircraft, but he paid a heavy price through the great pain which he suffered. After watching an enemy aircraft which he had just hit spiral downwards, the sudden attack of another enemy aircraft caused an explosion, igniting flames in his Spitfire`s cockpit, inflicting terrible burns to his face and hands. He parachuted into the sea, and was saved by the Margate Lifeboat. But like Douglas Bader in other circumstances, he was committed to return to the skies. To reach that objective Richard Hillary persuaded the Medical Board to allow him to return to flying. This led sadly to his fatal encounter with his Last Enemy over Berwickshire in 1943.

Although the medical team had allowed him to reach his objective of flying again, the great plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe, who had operated on Richard Hillary and many others who had been very badly burnt, had even expressed a written concern about whether the young pilot was completely fit to fly. Unfortunately it went unread by an on leave Station Medical Officer.⁶

What Richard Hillary left behind was a book full of descriptions of intense experiences and haunting imagery which rapidly became a best seller. Archie McIndoe himself described the book as the most outstanding contribution of the War in any Service.⁷. Richard was more than just a representative of the many young men who had been heavily outnumbered in the air by enemy aircraft. The pilots were ready, willing and able to put their lives on the line for the very existence of their country, whatever the outcome.

In a poignant way Richard Hillary seems to stand at the end of a long queue of exceptionally brave young men stretching all the way back to the era of The Trench Poets of The First World War, who had their youth taken from them by the mud and fierce slaughter of trench warfare in the war of attrition on the battlefields of France and Belgium. In the Battle of Britain death could come unexpectedly out of the sun, with sudden bursts of gunfire.

Richard Hillary gives a voice to the emotions and experiences of so many young men who died long before their time, with their lives and talents unfulfilled. Frozen forever in those iconic images as they scrambled from their wooden chairs on the airfields into the cockpits of their Spitfires, he tells us of the feelings that they experienced. There was their determination, the dread of anything going wrong, the confidence in their training, the exhilaration associated with action, and above all their indomitable will to win.

The No 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron with which Richard Hillary had served had been in the eye of the storm. The pilots were civilian volunteers in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force and had been highly trained. Based at RAF Hornchurch they were stationed to the South East of London, and the Luftwaffe bombers and fighter aircraft had to fly over Hornchurch or close by to carry out their attacks on London. The Edinburgh Squadron made a significant contribution, by shooting down 58 enemy aircraft in the fierce struggle, losing 14 of their own pilots, but the Luftwaffe casualties overall were much higher.⁸

In ending the possibility of invasion of the United Kingdom, the Battle of Britain was the first really significant victory of the Second World War. It was a substantial turning point in the conflict. The Last Enemy reveals the horror of bombing and life-threatening injuries, the indomitable will of the pilots, and the skills to win so many of the deadly dogfights in the sky. The fighter pilots through their decisive victory in the Battle left a priceless legacy for future generations.

FOOTNOTES:

1. Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 26; The Holy Bible 17 th Century Edition.

2. Speeches that Changed The World published by Quercus; Prime Minister Winston Churchill`s Statement in The House of Commons; Page 95.

3. The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary; First edition 1942 published by Macmillan & Co Ltd; Page 102.

4. The Hymn Courage Brother Do Not stumble was written by Norman Macleod, and was published in 1857.

5. The Hymn Thy hand O God has guided Thy flock, from age to age…, and its fourth verse contains its reference to The faithful few fought bravely… It was written by EH Plumptre and was published in 1864.

6. Richard Hillary: The Definitive Biography of a Battle of Britain Fighter Pilot and Author of The Last Enemy by David Ross, published by Grubb Street, London; Pages 354-355, quoting from the distinguished plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe, on medical matters.

7. Richard Hillary: The Definitive Biography of a Battle of Britain Fighter pilot and author of The Last Enemy by David Ross, published by Grubb Street, London; Page 355, giving Sir Archibald McIndoe`s assessment that The Last Enemy was the most outstanding literary contribution of the War in any service.

8. The Greatest Squadron of Them all : The Definitive History of 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, RAUXAF states in Volume1 in Appendix 6 on Page 316 that the outcome of the Battle of Britain for the RAAF pilots at RAF Hornchurch, was that 14 of their pilots were lost, and 58 enemy aircraft had been destroyed. The authors of this book were David Ross, Bruce Blanche and William Simpson.

Foreword © Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Lord Selkirk of Douglas PC, QC, MA, LLB, MSP

Honorary Air Commodore to No. 603 (City of Edinburgh)

Squadron RAuxAF

NOTES ON THE FOREWORD

When The unit returned to its old name of No 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, Her Majesty The Queen brought honour and distinction to The Squadron by becoming the Honorary Air Commodore to the Squadron again, which indeed had made its record as a top-scoring Squadron in the Battle of Britain. Accordingly it became known as The Queen’s Squadron.

James Douglas-Hamilton, Lord Selkirk of Douglas, had served as an Honorary Air Commodore to the (City of Edinburgh) Maritime Head Quarters Unit, whose members supported the Maritime tasks of The Royal Air Force. After their role changed, recovering their old name, Her Majesty the Queen was content that he should continue to carry out the functions of an Honorary Air Commodore, and years later that he be followed by Air Marshal Sir David Walker KCVO, OBE, DL.

PROEM

September 3 dawned dark and overcast, with a slight breeze ruffling the waters of the Estuary. Hornchurch aerodrome, twelve miles east of London, wore its usual morning pallor of yellow fog, lending an added air of grimness to the dimly silhouetted Spitfires around the boundary. From time to time a balloon would poke its head grotesquely through the mist as though looking for possible victims before falling back like some tired monster.

We came out on to the tarmac at about eight o’clock. During the night our machines had been moved from the Dispersal Point over to the hangars. All the machine tools, oil, and general equipment had been left on the far side of the aerodrome. I was worried. We had been bombed a short time before, and my plane had been fitted out with a new cockpit hood. This hood unfortunately would not slide open along its groove; and with a depleted ground staff and no tools, I began to fear it never would. Unless it did open, I shouldn’t be able to bale out in a hurry if I had to. Miraculously, Uncle George Denholm, our Squadron Leader, produced three men with a heavy file and lubricating oil, and the corporal fitter and I set upon the hood in a fury of haste. We took it turn by turn, filing and oiling, oiling and filing, until at last the hood began to move. But agonizingly slowly: by ten o’clock, when the mist had cleared and the sun was blazing out of a clear sky, the hood was still sticking firmly half-way along the groove; at ten-fifteen, what I had feared for the last hour happened. Down the loud-speaker came the emotionless voice of the controller: 603 Squadron take off and patrol base; you will receive further orders in the air: 603 Squadron take off as quickly as you can, please. As I pressed the starter and the engine roared into life, the corporal stepped back and crossed his fingers significantly. I felt the usual sick feeling in the pit of the stomach, as though I were about to row a race, and then I was too busy getting into position to feel anything.

Uncle George and the leading section took off in a cloud of dust; Brian Carbury looked across and put up his thumbs. I nodded and opened up, to take off for the last time from Hornchurch. I was flying No.3 in Brian’s section, with Stapme Stapleton on the right: the third section consisted of only two machines, so that our Squadron strength was eight. We headed south-east, climbing all out on a steady course. At about 12,000 feet we came up through the clouds: I looked down and saw them spread out below me like layers of whipped cream. The sun was brilliant and made it difficult to see even the next plane when turning. I was peering anxiously ahead, for the controller had given us warning of at least fifty enemy fighters approaching very high. When we did first sight them, nobody shouted, as I think we all saw them at the same moment. They must have been 500 to 1000 feet above us and coming straight on like a swarm of locusts. I remember cursing and going automatically into line astern: the next moment we were in among them and it was each man for himself. As soon as they saw us they spread out and dived, and the next ten minutes was a blur of twisting machines and tracer bullets. One Messerschmitt went down in a sheet of flame on my right, and a Spitfire hurtled past in a half-roll; I was weaving and turning in a desperate attempt to gain height, with the machine practically hanging on the airscrew. Then, just below me and to my left, I saw what I had been praying for - a Messerschmitt climbing and away from the sun. I closed in to 200 yards, and from slightly to one side gave him a two-second burst: fabric ripped off the wing and black smoke poured from the engine, but he did not go down. Like a fool, I did not break away, but put in another three-second burst. Red flames shot upwards and he spiralled out of sight. At that moment, I felt a terrific explosion

Reviews for The Last Enemy

[mahallett · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

sad, glad i don't live in a war zone,

[pandaros_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Last Enemy is a must for anyone interested in how WW2 was actually experienced. Hillary spends little time writing about his battle experiences, but much more on the period before the outbreak of war and his subsequent time in hospital. He deals with the reasons why people went to war and raises issues that have been glossed over in literature that was written after the war. The story itself is filled with poignancy in that one knows that Hillary did not live to see the outcome of the war yet saw many of his friends die. In short it captures feelings and moods that we are so sadly not witness to.

[michaelm42071 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Last Enemy, by Richard Hillary (1942; reprinted London: Macmillan, 1963) is a book I think I read years ago under the title Falling Through Space. Hillary begins with being shot out of the air and badly burned (on September 3rd, 1940, in the Battle of Britain, just a year to the day after the war started) and then goes back to Oxford before the war. Hillary talks about winning a rowing race in Germany in 1938 and losing one in Hungary. The war begins and Hillary describes flight training and his friends. Then he goes back to his crash and his long convalescence. The fiancée of one of his dead buddies accuses him of stifling all his emotional reaction to what has happened. In London he helps dig a woman out of a bombed house next to the pub where he had been drinking. She looks at his face and says before she dies, “I see they got you too.” This is an epiphany for him, and he finally starts to feel the death of his friends, rage at the evil of the war, and a conviction to be a writer.

[gibbon_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Richard Hillary was a member of a privileged English elite with money and education. He grew up between the two world wars with the conviction that the purpose of being alive was to have a good time and that his university education and foreign travel, only accessible in those days to the wealthy, were to contribute to his pleasure. At the outbreak of WW II, in common with many young men of his class, he joined the Royal Air Force with the intention of becoming a fighter pilot, which he achieved. The book tells an unforgettable story of flying the Spitfire, the fastest and the best of the propeller-driven single-seat fighting planes, of his experiences in the early days of the war and of the death of almost all his friends as one by one they failed to return from combat over the skies of Southern England and the English Channel. He was himself shot down and badly burned on the face and hands; the second part of the book tells not only of his hospital experiences and his long series of operations at the hands of McIndoe, the great plastic surgeon, but of his experiences during the nightly bombing of London and of his changing philosophical outloook after the death of his great friend Peter Pease, also a pilot. This is a memorable book by a man who had the insight to see what he had been and what he had become. He returned to flying with the RAF, some believe before his hands had healed properly, and was killed together with his observer when his Bristol Blenheim crashed during a night training flight in 1943.

[gocam_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Poignant, sad, relevant yet devoid of sentimentality, Hillary describes in engaging terms his journey from student to RAF fighter pilot during WWII, making friends only to see so many of them perish - his journey through reconstructive surgery after a crash through to a stirring final realization that he may in actual fact be fighting for something larger than himself. A very important read.