An amazing story from World War II. Here's the backstory:
On September 15th 1940 at 11:30am, a fleet of British fighter planes consisting of Spitfires and Hurricanes took off to intercept a fleet of German bombers heading for London during the "Battle of Britain" campaign.
An hour into the aerial battle, one of the Allies' pilots - 22 year old Sgt. Ray Holmes (a journalist before he joined the RAF) - noticed a damaged German bomber heading off alone; its target been Buckingham Palace.
With his Hurricane's ammunition spent, no backup to help him and little time, Ray decided upon a different and much less conventional tactic to prevent the bomber from succeeding; Flying towards it at 400mph and using his wing like a blade, Ray performed a kamikaze attack on the bomber.
Artist impression (
http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3785&page=2)
The attack succeeded - slicing off the bomber's tail, with the force of the impact causing the bomber to violently somersault forward; in turn tearing off both its wings before it plummeted towards the ground. The bomber's pilot bailed out but later died of his injuries while his plane crashed near Victoria Station.
Ray - who had suffered an injury to his arm as a result of the kamikaze strike - successfully bailed out while his plane, still traveling at great speed, impacted not far from Buckingham palace with such force that the plane penetrated deep underground.
In this 2004 documentary, which not only explores Ray's story, an attempt is made to dig up the wrecked Hurricane that Ray flew on that fateful day that turned him into a national hero.
Following his recovery after the event, Ray would continue to fly throughout World War II; later becoming an instructor teaching Russians how to fly the Hurricane and then performing high altitude photo-reconnaissance from 30,000 feet over Germany in a specially prepared Spitfire. He ended the War flying as the King’s Messenger for then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
On demob, he went back to a highly successful career in journalism. In 1989, Ray had his autobiography published entitled
SKY SPY - committing to print his fascinating exploits in aviation for all time.
Ray sadly passed away on 27 June 2005, aged 90, following a two-year battle with cancer.