Harold Bird - Wilson Air Vice Marshal Harold Arthur Cooper " Birdie " Bird - Wilson ( 20 November 1919 – 27 December 2000 ) was a British Royal Air Force ace during World War II . Early life . Bird - Wilson was born in Prestatyn , North Wales , on 20 November 1919 . His father was a tea - planter in Bengal , and his parents remained in India , sending Bird - Wilson to boarding school . He later went to Liverpool College . Military career . On 30 November 1937 , having had a few weeks initial officer training , he was granted a short - service commission in the RAF . In August 1938 he was assigned to 17 Squadron , learning the rudiments of being a fighter pilot in Gloster Gauntlet s . The Squadron was re - equipped with Hawker Hurricane s in June 1939 . Ten weeks later , he was flying a BA Swallow out of RAF Cranwell when he crashed in bad weather . His passenger was killed , and Bird - Wilson was left without a nose . He was treated by pioneering plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe , who offered Bird - Wilson the nose of his choice , and went on to treat many disfigured RAF pilots during the war . Second World War . In April 1940 he was back on active service , in time to fly Hurricanes for the British retreat from France in the following weeks . As an already accomplished pilot , he was one of the elite selected for one of Cuthbert Orde ' s iconic charcoal portraits , which was drawn on 11 September 1940 . On the morning of 24 September , flying Hurricane P3878 near Chatham , he became the 40th kill of Luftwaffe ace Adolf Galland of JG 26 . Baling out on fire , he landed in the Thames and was picked up by a navy boat . Yet again he was hospitalised . In 1941 he went back into service as an instructor at No . 56 Operational Training Unit ( OTU ) before seeing action flying Spitfire s with No . 254 Squadron RAF , participating in raids over northern France . He returned for a spell commanding a unit at No . 56 OTU later in the year . In 1942 he commanded No . 152 Squadron RAF and No . 66 Squadron RAF as they led fighter escorts for bombing raids to the northern European coast , moving on to lead Wings in 1943 . In 1944 he attended command training in the USA at Fort Leavenworth , before returning to action over the Normandy Invasion . He ended the war commanding No . 1335 Jet Conversion Unit , the first jet unit in the RAF . After the war . For many years after the war Bird - Wilson held a variety of posts in the Central Flying Establishment . In 1946 he was given command of the air fighting development squadron . In 1948 he moved to Middle East operations , becoming personal staff officer to Air Chief Marshal Sir John Baker , Middle East Air Force Commander - in - Chief in 1949 . In 1954 , Bird - Wilson joined the British Joint Services Mission in Washington . He returned to be Station Commander at RAF Coltishall from June 1959 to November 1961 , then held a post at the Air Ministry from 1961 to 1963 , before two years commanding the Central Flying School , followed by a post as air officer commanding Hong Kong in 1965 . After two years , Bird - Wilson took up a post at the Ministry of Technology in 1967 . From 1970 — 1974 , his final years of service were spent commanding a training group . He died in 2000 . Family . Bird - Wilson married Audrey Alma Wallace ( b . 27 May 1923 ) in 1942 . They had a son , Robert , in 1943 and a daughter , Carol , in 1945 . Audrey died in 1991 . He was remarried , to Margaret McGillivray Butler , in 1994 .