Ken Lee (RAF officer)

Kenneth Norman Thomson Lee DFC (23 June 1915 – 15 January 2008) was a British flying ace who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He is credited with having shot down seven aircraft.

From Birmingham, Lee joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in early 1937 and was called up to serve in the RAF in early 1939 for a six-month period, mostly with No. 43 Squadron and then staying on even after his obligations ended. Posted to No. 501 Squadron on the outbreak of the Second World War. It went to France with its Hawker Hurricane fighters on 10 May 1940, Lee claiming his first aerial victory the same day. Several more followed in the next few weeks although he was shot down on 10 June and was injured during the subsequent efforts to be repatriated to England. Rejoining the squadron after recovery from his injury, Lee had further successes during the Battle of Britain until he was shot down on 18 August. Wounded, he did not return to operational flying until October and later in the month was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

At the end of the year he was placed on instructing duties for 12 months, before going to Africa where he was a ferry pilot until mid-1942. He served with a number of squadrons in Egypt before being appointed leader of No. 123 Squadron in March 1943. He was shot down over Crete on 23 July, and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war. He left the RAF in late 1945 and worked in East Africa for a trading company for several years before setting a plumbing supplies business in Dublin. He retired in 1977 and eventually settled in Sheffield, England, where he died in 2008, aged 92.