Date of birth:

May 31st, 1917 (Calcutta, India)

Date of death:

February 1994 (Devon, Great Britain)

Service number:

33319

Nationality:

British

Brian Fabris Kingcome was born on May 31st 1917 in Calcutta, where his father was in trade. He was educated at Bedford and entered the RAF College, Cranwell in 1936. Soon after he began his pilot course he was seriously injured in a car accident. A RAF medical board told him he would never fly again as he was expected to suffer permanent double vision. But after months in hospital the resilience, will and strength which characterised both his service and civilian careers assured him a fighter cockpit. In 1938 he was posted to No 65, a biplane Gladiator fighter squadron based at Hornchurch.
At the outbreak of war he was flying with No. 65 Squadron and took part in the Battles of France and Dunkirk. Thereafter, he was posted as a flight commander to 92 Squadron, scoring his first victories in June 1940. From July to October 1940, Kingcome fought doggedly from. In one engagement he was temporarily in command 92 Squadron when, after shooting down an enemy bomber, he found himself separated from his fellows. Suddenly: Bang! The aeroplane was full of holes, I was bloody indignant he recorded. He always believed he had been shot down by another Spitfire. Unable to control his fighter, Kingcome baled out at 20,000ft and allowed himself to freefall until well away from the fighting, lest he be shot at while swinging from his parachute.
He became acting commanding officer during the latter stages of the Battle of Britain. During this time he and his pilots achieved the highest success rate of any squadron in the entire Battle of Britain. After being shot down by Me109s and wounded, he returned to active operations. In February 1942 he was posted to command 72 Squadron and almost immediately be was ordered to provide escort cover for tbe ill-fated Fleet Air Arm Swordfish attack on the capital ships ‘Scharnhorst’ and ‘Gneisenau’ and and the cruiser ‘Prinz Eugen’ as they sailed througb the Channel, gaving escort cover to the Fleet Air Arm pilot Eugene Esmonde, who won the VC. In atrocious weather Kingcome caught a fleeting glimpse of tbe ‘Scharnhorst’ - "Oh what a beautiful battleboat!" he exclaimed, just as a shell made a hole the size of a dustbin lid in his port wing.
In 1943 he was posted to North Africa to lead 244 Wing, and lead this for 18 months, becoming a Gp. Capt. after the invasion of Italy. By the end of his stay with the wing he had brought his score to 8 and 3 shared destroyed, plus a score of probables and damaged and was then posted as SASO of a Liberator group, and flew an operation as a waist gunner over northern Yugoslavia after taking up this appointment.
By the end of the Second World War he had an official score of 11 kills but his true score was more like 20; rather than wait to confirm the destruction of an enemy aircraft, he preferred to continue to lay about him.
But war had taken a toll on his health and, after being treated for tuberculosis, he was invalided from the service in 1954.
In civilian life he engaged in a number of unsuccesful attempts to make a living out of producing movies ('That Lady' en 'The White Rabbit') and a tv series ('Assignment Foreign Legion'). But they all didn't become a commercial succes. After that het set up a successfully and fancy London garage and car hire business with his Battle of Britain comrade Paddy Barthropp. In 1969, with his wife Lesley he set up ‘Kingcome Sofas’in which he worked until 1989 when he sold the bussiness, retired and moved to Devon.
After the war he published the book 'A Willingness to Die'.
Brian Kincome suddenly died in 1994.

Promotions:
January 24, 1940: Flying Officer
January 30, 1941: Flight Lieutenant
March 1, 1942: Acting Squadron Leader
January 1, 1946 Acting Group Captain

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Acting Flight Lieutenant

Unit:

No. 92 (East India) Squadron, Royal Air Force

Awarded on:

October 25th, 1940

Citation:
"Flight Lieutenant Kingcome has personally destroyed six enemy aircraft and by his leadership has been responsible, for the destruction of many others. He has led his flight, and lately his squadron, with judgment, skill and keenness."

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Flight Lieutenant

Unit:

No. 92 (East India) Squadron, Royal Air Force

Awarded on:

July 29th, 1941

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Acting Wing Commander

Unit:

RAF Fighter Leaders School, HQ, Royal Air Force

Awarded on:

December 15th, 1942

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Acting Group Captain

Awarded on:

January 1st, 1946

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Met "BATTLE OF BRITAIN" clasp.

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

With "ATLANTIC" clasp.

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

• Photo 1: Aces of World War II
• Photo: Aces of World War II Homepage
  
• - SHORES, CH. & WILLIAMS, C., Aces High, Grub Street, London, 1994.
  - The London Gazette Issue 34978 published on the 25 October 1940
  - The London Gazette Issue 35232 published on the 29 July 1941
  - Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 35822 published on the 11 December 1942
  - Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 37407 published on the 28 December 1945
  - Spink
  - Battle of Britain Memorial