page_title: Paterson Clarence Hughes
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Paterson Clarence Hughes / Early life
caption_attribution_description: Probably Sydney, NSW. Studio portrait of 39461 Flight Lieutenant Patterson Clarence Hughes DFC who died 7 September 1940 aged 22, during the Battle of Britain, serving with No. 234 Squadron RAF. During the Battle of Britain he was the top-scoring Australian pilot credited with shooting down 14 enemy aircraft and 3 other shared kills. He was awarded the DFC posthumously on 22 October 1940.
context_page_description: Paterson Clarence Hughes, DFC was an Australian fighter ace of World War II. Serving with the Royal Air Force, he was credited with as many as seventeen aerial victories during the Battle of Britain, before being killed in action on 7 September 1940. His tally made him the highest-scoring Australian of the battle, and among the three highest-scoring Australians of the war.
  Born in Cooma, New South Wales, Hughes joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a cadet in 1936. After graduating as a pilot, he chose to take a commission with the RAF. In July 1937, he was assigned to No. 64 Squadron, which operated Hawker Demon and, later, Bristol Blenheim fighters. Posted to No. 234 Squadron following the outbreak of World War II, Hughes began flying Supermarine Spitfires as a flight commander. He shared in his unit's first aerial victory on 8 July 1940, and began scoring heavily against the Luftwaffe the following month. Known for his practice of attacking his targets at extremely close range, Hughes is generally thought to have died after his Spitfire was struck by flying debris from a German bomber that he had just shot down.
context_section_description: Paterson Clarence Hughes was born in Numeralla, near Cooma, New South Wales, on 19 September 1917. He was the second-youngest of twelve children, the last of four boys in his family. Hughes' father was a teacher by profession but at the time of Pat's birth was running the community post office; christened Percival Clarence Hughes, and known as Percy, he had apparently adopted the name Paterson by the time of his marriage to Catherine Vennell in 1895. Percy was also a writer, contributing to newspapers and magazines such as The Bulletin, and "Paterson" may have been homage to the poet Banjo Paterson. In any case, Pat shared his father's interest in literature. He also grew to love the landscape of the local Monaro district in the shadow of the Snowy Mountains, which he described as "unrivalled in the magnificence and grandeur of its beauty".
  Hughes was educated at Cooma Public School until the age of twelve, when the family moved to Haberfield in Sydney; his father was by then working as a labourer. He attended Petersham Boys' School, becoming a prefect in 1932 and vice captain the following year. As well as playing sport, he was a keen aircraft modeller and built crystal radio sets. Having attained his intermediate certificate, Hughes entered Fort Street High School in February 1934. He left after eight months to take up employment at Saunders' Jewellers in George Street, Sydney, and enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on 20 January 1936. Hughes had also applied to, and been accepted by, the Royal Australian Navy, but chose the RAAF.
  Training as an air cadet at RAAF Point Cook near Melbourne, Hughes learnt to fly in de Havilland Moths before progressing to Westland Wapitis in the middle of the year. A practical joker who bridled under RAAF discipline, his euphoria during his first solo on 11 March 1936 was such that he "went mad, whistled, sang and almost jumped for joy". A fellow cadet recalled that Hughes "loved life and lived it at high pressure". Upon graduation in December 1936, Hughes was assessed as having "no outstanding qualities" despite being "energetic and keen". Under a pre-war arrangement between the British and Australian governments, he volunteered for transfer to the Royal Air Force (RAF), and sailed for the United Kingdom in January 1937. His decision to transfer had not been quick or easy; though keen to "try and do something special" in England, and intrigued by "a fascinating picture of easy life, beer and women" that had been presented to him, in the end he felt that it was simply "willed" that he should go.
caption: Hughes, c. December 1936
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