page_title: Nigel Cullen
section_title: Hurricanes
hierarchical_section_title: Nigel Cullen / Fighter pilot / Hurricanes
caption_attribution_description: Flying Officer R N Cullen of No. 80 Squadron RAF, preparing to take off from Paramythia, Greece, in Hawker Hurricane V7288 on the morning of 4 March 1941, as part of a fighter escort for bombers attacking Italian warships off the Albanian coast. During a resulting dogfight with Italian fighters, Cullen, flying as No. 2 to Flight Lieutenant M St J 'Pat' Pattle, was shot down and killed near Himare. At the time of his death, Richard Nigel Cullen, known as 'The Ape' because of his large physique, was credited with 16½ victories.
context_page_description: Richard Nigel Cullen, DFC was an Australian fighter ace of World War II. Serving with the Royal Air Force, he was credited with as many as sixteen aerial victories before being killed in action during the Battle of Greece. Born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Cullen was living in London and had already seen action in the Spanish Civil War when he joined the RAF in 1937. Following the outbreak of World War II, he served initially as a transport pilot with No. 267 Squadron in the Middle East before seeking reassignment to fighters. He was then posted to No. 80 Squadron, flying Gloster Gladiator biplanes, and claimed six Axis aircraft before the unit converted to Hawker Hurricanes. Nicknamed "Ape" due to his physical bulk, Cullen was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for destroying five enemy aircraft in a single sortie on 28 February 1941. He was credited with another four victories in the one engagement on 3 March; the next day, he was shot down and killed while on escort duty over Albania, by a Regia Aeronautica Fiat G.50bis, at age twenty-three.
context_section_description: By the time No. 80 Squadron began re-equipping with Hawker Hurricanes in February 1941, Cullen's total of aerial victories stood at six enemy aircraft destroyed, plus one probable. He had earned a reputation for extreme aggression and doggedness in the air. His favourite tactic was to duel head-on with his intended victim, two aircraft firing at each other with a closing speed of over 500 miles per hour (800 km/h); he was quoted as saying, "It's always interesting to see who will pull away first". His colleagues reportedly said of him, "He never came out of a fight while a single enemy aircraft was left in the sky to give battle. He came home only when his guns were empty." Cullen opened his score in the Hurricane on 27 February, shooting down a Fiat CR.42 while escorting Bristol Blenheim light bombers to Valona, Albania. The day after, in what has been described as "the greatest air battle of this period", he was officially credited with shooting down five Italian planes in the one engagement, a record for his unit. His combat report read:
  The battle exended right across Albania. First, I found four Breda 20s. I got one, which went down in flames. There we found three formations of SM.79s. I took on one and aimed at the starboard engine. It caught fire and crashed in flames. I climbed and dived on the next. He too crashed in flames. Then we attacked ten CR.42s, climbing to get above them. I got behind one, and he caught fire and went down in flames. Up again immediately – dived, fired into the cockpit and another one took fire, rolled over and crashed. I had to come home then – no more ammo.
  For his achievements on 28 February, the RAF's most successful day of the campaign, Cullen was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Italian sources recorded that a Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 was only damaged on 28 February, not shot down, and that the Breda 20s claimed by the RAF were in fact Fiat BR.20s. Cullen claimed another multiple kill on 3 March, when he and one of his comrades chased a group of CANT Z.1007bis that had just bombed Larissa, Greece. Catching the retreating bombers south-west of Corfu, No. 80 Squadron claimed six destroyed and one probable. Cullen was credited with destroying four CANTs and probably destroying another, though the Italians reported that only two CANT bombers were lost.
  The following day, 4 March, flying Hurricane V7288, Cullen was escorting a group of Blenheims near Himarë in southern Albania. Once the Blenheims had bombed their target (five Italian warships) and were on their return flight, Flight Lieutenant Pattle ordered the Hurricanes to hunt in pairs over the warships, where a number of Italian fighters were seen. At once a lone G.50bis attacked Pattle and his wingman, on this occasion Cullen. Pattle reported shooting down the Fiat and watching it spiral into a mountainside, but at this moment a second Fiat jumped Cullen's Hurricane and he was not seen again. His aircraft crashed near Himarë, and the Australian was killed; he was twenty-three years old. The citation for his DFC was promulgated in the London Gazette on 14 March:
  In February, 1941, this officer was pilot of one of a formation of aircraft which attacked a large force of enemy bombers escorted by at least 30 fighters. Displaying remarkable skill, Flight Lieutenant Cullen shot down five of the enemy's aircraft in the ensuing action. He has now destroyed 11 enemy aircraft and has consistently shown great resource and courage.
   (It was assumed at the time of this dispatch that Cullen was missing in action, as reported by Pattle .)
  Although the official history of Australia in the war puts the number of Cullen's victories at thirteen, his total score is more commonly estimated as sixteen, or sixteen-and-a-half. He is buried in Tirana Park Memorial Cemetery, Tirana, Albania.  His name appears on the Commemorative Roll at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
caption: Flight Lieutenant Cullen beside his Hawker Hurricane of No. 80 Squadron RAF at Paramythia, Greece, just before taking off on his final sortie, 4 March 1941
exif: {}