Date of birth:

February 17th, 1913 (Gorseinon/Swansea/Wales, Great Britain)

Date of death:

February 12th, 2003

Nationality:

British

Service number(s) 561347 (NCO) and 44630 (Officer).

Higginson, the son of a policeman attended Gowerton County School from 1921 to 1926, joined the RAF as an apprentice, aged just 16, in 1929 and served at RAF Halton/No. 7 Squadron as a fitter and air-gunner. He was accepted for flying training in 1935 and after qualifying as a pilot, he joined No 19 Squadron, flying Gloster Gauntlet biplanes and served during the Battle of France with 56 Squadron, a unit which destroyed 35 enemy aircraft over France in May 1940 and recorded a further 88 kills in the Battle of Britain. By June 1941, still with No 56 flying Hurricanes, he had increased his personal score of enemy aircraft to 12.
Higginson was shot down over Dunkirk in June 1941 and attempted to escape to Spain before being arrested at the Franco-Spanish border. During internment in Perpignan he escaped.
Equipped with false papers and posing as a priest, he reached British-controlled Gibraltar.
When falling in hands of the German Gestapo, his knowledge of the escape lines in France could endanger the existence of the lines and resistantce fighters. He therefore was excluded from flying operations and was detached to the factory manufacturing engines for the Hawker Typhoon,
After the war he served with Headquarters 11 Group, attended the RAF Staff course at Bracknell and also graduated from the Army Staff College, Camberley. He resigned from the RAF in 1956 to join the Bristol aircraft manufacturers at Filton,
In 1963 he joined the board of Bristol and was appointed OBE for services to industry that year.

Promotions:
September 24th, 1940: Pilot Officer (probation)
September 24th, 1941: Pilot Officer
April 8th, 1941: :Flying Officer
April 8th, 1942: Flight Lieutenant (war sub)
July 1st, 1946: Flight Lieutenant (permamemt)
?: Squadron Leader
July 1st, 1953: Wing Commander
April 5th, 1956: retirement

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Flight Sergeant

Unit:

No. 56 (Punjab) Squadron, Royal Air Force

Awarded on:

July 30th, 1940

Citation:
"This airman pilot has led a section during all operations undertaken by his squadron, and has personally destroyed at least five enemy aircraft. He has shown the greatest determination in the face of the enemy and his cool and courageous leadership has been an example to his squadron."

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Flight Lieutenant

Unit:

No. 56 (Punjab) Squadron, Royal Air Force

Awarded on:

February 9th, 1943

• - Second Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 35894 published on the 5 February 1943
  - The London Gazette Issue 34910 published on the 30 July 1940
  - Battle of Britain London Monument
  - The Telegraph - Obituaries
  - The Gowertonian Society