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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''〔Bader, Douglas. ''Fight for the sky: the story of the Spitfire and the Hurricane'' Fontana, 1975, pp. 131-32〕 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 Hurricanes 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 Typhoons (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, the Netherlands 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".〔Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1948) ''Crusade in Europe'' William Heinemann〕 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Battle of Britain London Monument - Sgt. R J McNAIR )〕 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Robin McNair」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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