Memories of our very-own flying ace
AS the nation marks the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, memories return of Wetherby's own fighter ace.
James Harry (Ginger) Lacey shot down more enemy planes than even the great Douglas Bader. He is credited with 23 “kills” in the battle.
Because of his expertise, he was used as a technical advisor for the film The Battle of Britain.
A plaque in his memory is fixed to the south side of Wetherby Town Hall and, in 1962, the former Wetherby Rural District Council named Lacey Grove (off Walton Road) after him.
Wetherby resident Colin Gaden, of Meyrick Avenue, said: “Ginger Lacey was one of the Few young fighter pilots who helped save this country from tyranny and was the most successful pilot in that battle.”
Lacey was born on February 1, 1917, at Fairfield Villas, Deighton Road, which was demolished to make way for a car sales forecourt.
His mind was always set on a flying career and he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve. He learned to fly in a Tiger Moth and was called up the day before the Second World War was declared and was posted to France. During the Dunkirk evacuation, he destroyed five German aircraft.
He then flew Hurricanes in Channel dogfights and in 1941 shot down the Heinkel 111 which had just bombed Buckingham Palace in a daylight raid. But before the bomber crashed, its gunner hit Lacey’s plane and caused him to bale out.
He went on to fly Spitfires, served in Burma and the Far East and took his wartime tally of kills to 28 - 27 German and one Japanese aircraft.
He met his future wife Sheila in Burma and they were married at the end of the war. Sq Ldr Lacey left the RAF in 1967 and ran an air freight business in Hull.
He later became chief flying instructor at Grindale Airfield near Bridlington. He died of cancer at a hospital near Hull in 1989, leaving a widow and two daughters.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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