http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/world/europe/17freeborn.html?ref=obituariesJohn Freeborn, British Fighter Pilot, Dies at 90By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Published: September 17, 2010
Seventy years ago, John Freeborn was one of the Royal Air Force’s leading fighter pilots, acclaimed for his exploits off Dunkirk and in the air above English villages during the Battle of Britain.
John Freeborn shot down at least 12 German planes.
Of the nearly 3,000 Allied fliers who dueled with German aircraft in that battle, thwarting Hitler’s ambition to conquer Britain, none logged more combat hours than Wing Commander Freeborn. He was credited with shooting down at least 12 German planes during World War II, and he was twice decorated with Britain’s Distinguished Flying Cross.
But Mr. Freeborn, who died on Aug. 28 at the age of 90, was also a central figure in a long-remembered episode of “friendly fire” — one that brought him anguish throughout his long life.
On Sept. 6, 1939 — three days after Britain had gone to war with Germany — Mr. Freeborn, flying a Spitfire fighter, was among a group of pilots sent aloft from their base at Hornchurch to intercept what were reported to be German planes headed toward the Essex coast in southeast England.
But it was a case of war jitters. There were no German aircraft. Mr. Freeborn and a pilot flying alongside him each shot down what they presumed to be German fighters.
But they had, in fact, downed a pair of British Hurricane fighters, which had also been sent up, from the nearby North Weald airbase.
Pilot Officer Montague Hulton-Harrop, the flier shot down by Mr. Freeborn, became the first British fighter pilot killed in the war. The other Hurricane pilot shot down that day survived.
Mr. Freeborn, accused by his commanding officer of disregarding a last-minute order to hold his fire, was court-martialed. But he maintained that his commander had lied — that he had, in fact, been told to attack. He was exonerated together with his fellow Spitfire pilot, the affair attributed to miscommunication.
In May 1940, Mr. Freeborn took part in covering the British Expeditionary Force’s escape from Dunkirk when German forces were overrunning France. He shot down two German planes, but his Spitfire was later downed. He was rescued, and he returned to England.
When the Battle of Britain raged in the summer of 1940, Mr. Freeborn returned to combat with his No.74 Squadron, a unit with a tiger’s face as its emblem and the motto “I Fear No Man.”
On Aug. 11, the “tiger” squadron flew into battle four times in a span of eight hours and reported destroying 23 German planes, 3 of them downed by Mr. Freeborn, and damaging 14 others.
Mr. Freeborn came to the United States in 1942 to train American fighter pilots, then returned to England to escort bombers on missions off the French and Dutch coasts. He became one of Britain’s youngest wing commanders in 1944, overseeing a fighter unit based in southern Italy.
Mr. Freeborn’s death, in Southport, in northwest England, was announced on the 74 Squadron Association’s Web site by his biographer, Bob Cossey, author of “A Tiger’s Tale” (2002). (In 2009, Mr. Freeborn collaborated with Christopher Yeoman on a memoir, “Tiger Cub.”)
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