Bunny Currant Wing Commander Christopher Frederick " Bunny " Currant , ( 14 December 1911 – 12 March 2006 ) was a British RAF fighter ace in the Second World War . Early life and enlistment in the RAF . Currant was born on 14 December 1911 in Luton , Bedfordshire . Aged 25 he joined the Royal Air Force in 1936 ; after qualifying as a pilot he joined No 46 Squadron as a Sergeant pilot and later with No 151 Squadron ; he was later commissioned as a pilot officer and began service with 605 squadron at RAF Wick , Caithness on the Wick Bay . World War II . In the second week of The Battle of France in May 1940 , his squadron was moved down to RAF Hawkinge in Kent ; from here the squadron flew sorties in France where enemy aircraft were attacking the retreating British Expeditionary Force . On one early sortie the engine on his Hawker Hurricane failed , forcing him to crash land in a field , breaking his nose and he was forced to make his own way to Calais where he managed to get a lift on board a vessel back to England . 605 squadron was then moved to RAF Drem where it took part in the interception of the famous Luftflotte 5 raid which took place on 15 August . Currant claimed two Heinkel He 111 s shot down . The squadron was again moved south again – this time to RAF Croydon and was soon in the midst of the heaviest fighting in September 1940 . Currants tally of enemy aircraft rose steadily and on 15 September alone , he had accounted for 2 Dornier Do 17 s , a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and damaged another three Do 17s as well as a Heinkel He 111 . By the end of 1940 his tally stood at 8 destroyed and 5 shared , and he was awarded the DFC on 8 October 1940 and the Bar to it in the consecutive month . Currant then had a spell as the chief flying instructor of No . 52 Operational Training Unit ( OTU ) at Debden ; this was followed by the command of Spitfire Squadron No . 501 in August 1941 . It was at this time that he played himself in the film " The First of the Few " which starred David Niven . He commanded the Spitfires of the Ibsley Wing from June until August 1942 . It was at this time that he was also awarded the DSO . At this time he was mainly involved in operations over occupied France and the low countries . He was allowed a break from fighting and undertook a four - month lecturing tour in Eastern America and upon his return he went to 84 Group Control Centre , where he was involved in the allocation of target allocation in support of tactical air operations . In February 1943 Currant was given the command of 122 Wing of the 2nd Tactical Air Force ; he remained here until July 1944 and during this posting he was awarded the Croix de Guerre ( Belgian ) on 9 April 1943 . Post war . Currant chose to remain in the RAF after the war and had post - war postings in Washington DC where he was on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and this was followed by a year back in London at the Ministry of Supply . This was followed by a four - year posting to the Royal Norwegian Air Force Staff College – where the Norwegians awarded him the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav . He retired from the RAF in 1959 whereafter he joined an engineering firm in Luton – his employers developed weapons for the RAF . He finally retired in 1974 . Currant was married to Cynthia in 1942 and they had three sons and a daughter . Honours and awards . < br >