What key details about raymond brown hesselyn can be extracted from the following bio? Bio: squadron leader raymond brown hesselyn , mbe , dfc , dfm & bar -lrb- 13 march 1921 -- 14 november 1963 -rrb- was one of new zealand 's top fighter aces in world war ii . hesselyn was born in dunedin , new zealand . in civilian life , he was a machinist . he joined the territorial army in 1939 , before joining the royal new zealand air force . after training , he was posted to britain in september , 1941 , joining first 61 operational training unit -lrb- otu -rrb- , then no. 234 squadron as a flight sergeant . in february , 1942 , he was posted to malta , flying a spitfire mk v from the deck of the aircraft carrier , to the island and joining 249 squadron on 9 march 1942 . on april fools day , he recorded his first two kills , a bf 109 of jg 53 and a ju 87of stg 3 . during the month , he shot down another bf 109 and ju 87 , and was awarded the distinguished flying medal -lrb- dfm -rrb- . may proved to be just as productive , with hesselyn claiming four 109s and a ju 88 of '' kgruppe '' 806 . he received a bar for his dfm and was commissioned as a pilot officer . before returning to england , he downed one more 109 , for a total of 12 claimed victories . after a spell at 61 otu , hesselyn joined no. 501 squadron in early 1943 and then in the summer of 1943 joined no 222 squadron as a flight commander . he shot down two 109s of jg 3 on 17 august 1943 . he received the distinguished flying cross in september . his luck finally ran out on 3 october 1943 . after downing at least one 109 -lrb- claiming three -rrb- , bringing his total to 18 and 1 shared destroyed -lrb- possibly 20 -rrb- , he was forced to bail out of his burning plane and was taken prisoner . he was probably shot down by fbw . weigand of i. / jg 26 . he escaped once , but was recaptured and spent the rest of the war making repeated attempts to rejoin the fight . as a result of his conduct as a prisoner of war , he was made a member of the order of the british empire in 1946 . he remained in the royal air force , eventually reaching the rank of...
- battles is world war ii- death date is 1963 -lrb- aged 42 -rrb-- allegiance is new zealand- rank is squadron leader- awards is member mbe -rrb- distinguished flying cross -lrb- dfc -rrb- distinguished flying of model -lrb- dfm -rrb- & bar the order of the british empire -lrb-- birth date is 1921- name is raymond brown hesselyn- branch is royal new zealand air force royal air force- death place is uxbridge middlesex , england- birth place is dunedin , new zealand .