Robin McNair Squadron Leader Robin John McNair , DFC and Bar ( 21 May 1918 – 18 May 1996 ) was a prominent Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the Second World War . After the war he enjoyed a long and successful career in civil aviation as a senior figure in BEA , later to become British Airways . Second World War . In February 1939 , seven months before World War II began in Europe , McNair joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and was selected for pilot training , being called up into the RAF six months later . During the Battle of Britain in 1940 he served first with No . 3 Squadron ( fighter ) and then No . 249 Squadron ( also fighter ) , where he served under Squadron Leader John Grandy , later Marshal of the RAF . At this time No . 249 Squadron adopted the motto " Nocturni Obambulamus " ( " We Stalk by Night " ) and was charged with the air defence of North - West England . In March 1941 McNair shot down a Heinkel 111 bomber over Liverpool . The dangers and complications of this attack were such that it received national press coverage ; and was held up as an exceptional success by Douglas Bader in his book : " Fight for the sky " which provided a detailed description . In 1940 he regularly flew nightfighter operations during the Blitz . In 1941 his operations included leading intruder attacks on enemy bases in France , Belgium and The Netherlands . In 1942 he was awarded the DFC for his part in warding off air raids over England and for his role as a member of No . 87 Squadron flying Hawker Hurricane s in the 1942 Dieppe raid . He received a bar to his DFC in September 1944 from George VI after commanding No . 247 squadron in the ' Death and Glory ' operations of Hawker Typhoon s ( Tiffy in RAF slang ) , in the 1944 Normandy invasion . Having supported the D - Day landings on 6 June 1944 , the squadron moved to France two weeks later and then flew armed reconnaissance operations in support of the advancing Allied armies through France , Belgium , Holland and on into Germany . Later that year he took part in Operation Crossbow flying ' noball ' sorties against V - weapon sites . He was acting Wing Commander during the devastating raid by 124 Wing in Hawker Typhoons on the German Seventh Army at the Falaise Pocket in Normandy in 1944 , an action in which Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was severely injured and one of the bloodiest engagements of the Normandy campaign . " The battlefield at Falaise was unquestionably one of the greatest ' killing fields ' of any of the war areas " , Eisenhower noted in his memoirs : " Forty - eight hours after the closing of the gap I was conducted through it on foot , to encounter scenes that could be described only by Dante " . During the war McNair became a member of the Caterpillar Club for those who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft , having been forced to bail out of a damaged plane twice during combat . Whilst nightfighting over Bristol in his Hurricane in 1942 , McNair ' s parachute failed to deploy until immediately before he hit the ground . In July 1944 his 7 ton Typhoon fighter - bomber laden with rockets and bombs was disabled by enemy ground fire . He managed to glide it 15 miles across occupied France to land it undamaged behind Allied lines . He was posted as Chief Flying Instructor before returning to combat duties . In 1945 he commanded No . 74 Squadron , one of the first RAF squadrons equipped with the UK ’ s first jet fighter the Gloster Meteor , also the Allies ' first operational jet aircraft . Altogether McNair flew almost 300 operational sorties . He was one of the few surviving fighter pilots from the Battle of Britain still in operational combat in late 1944 and up to the end of the war . Post - war . After the war McNair entered the civil aviation industry joining British European Airways ( BEA ) which merged with BOAC to form British Airways ( BA ) in 1974 . He played an important role towards re - establishing post - war diplomatic and commercial links between Britain and Federal Germany ; and in facilitating commercial diplomatic channels of communication with countries emerging from the political upheavals of the war . From 1951 – 56 he was deputy to Lord Amherst , director of BEA ' s Associated Companies , and helped to establish smooth relations between the airline ' s foreign subsidiaries . He worked closely in Cyprus after its independence with the most senior political and commercial personages in the country including Archbishop ( later President ) Makarios ; and with Aristotle Onassis on the complex negotiations that led to a BA / Olympic Airways consortium for the hire of aircraft and exploitation of European and Mediterranean routes . In his long career at BEA and BA he was to become one of its chief commercial negotiators before retiring in 1979 . In 1990 Bishop Cormac Murphy - O ' Connor ( later Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster ) said of McNair : " " His life and career exemplified what was best in English and Catholic tradition . " " Biblical scholar Dom Bernard Orchard ( OSB ) said of McNair : " “ I know of no - one in my whole acquaintance more deserving of being honoured by his country for his integrity and citizenship . ” " Death . McNair died on 18 May 1996 , three days short of his 78th birthday . He was buried at Church Norton close to the seaside at Selsey , West Sussex , where he had been commanding officer and had flown several missions over the English Channel before D - Day in his Typhoon . Personal life . McNair was born in Rio de Janeiro , his forbears having moved in the 1840s to Brazil from Glasgow , where they were prominent in civic and commercial life . He was educated at Douai School , Berkshire . A devoutly religious man , during his war years he would always insist that Masses be held for dead crew members of an enemy plane that had been brought down . In post - war years he helped to organise displaced persons camps in Western Europe . After his retirement in 1979 McNair became involved with many church , charitable and ex - Service organisations . He also maintained close contact with his old school and was elected President of the Douai Society ( 1991 – 93 ) . Family . In 1940 Robin McNair married Estelle Townsend , great niece of Surgeon - General Sir Edmond Townsend ; they had seven children , including author and lawyer Duncan McNair . Legacy . He was strongly associated with supporting pro - life causes . He was a patron and supporter of SPUC , the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children , whose Robin McNair Prize , set up in his memory and presented annually , is open to children between the ages of 14 and 18 writing an essay about issues affecting the sanctity of life . In 1998 a blue plaque was erected in his honour at a new road in the London Borough of Ealing , McNair Road . ( McNair Close , Selsey and McNair Court , Hove are also named in his honour . )