[BITList] Obit - Air Commodore Pete Brothers, CBE, DSO, DFC and Bar. RAF. Battle of Britain Pilot.

[John Feltham]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3884594/Air-Commodore-Pete-Brothers.html


Air Commodore Pete Brothers
Wartime fighter pilot who destroyed at least 16 enemy aircraft,  
earning a DSO and two DFCs.

Last Updated: 4:29PM GMT 21 Dec 2008
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Air Commodore Pete Brothers, who has died aged 91, flew throughout the  
Battle of Britain and was one of the RAF's most distinguished fighter  
pilots, credited with destroying at least 16 enemy aircraft.
Brothers was a flight commander on No 32 Squadron and had been blooded  
in May 1940 during the hectic, and often chaotic, fighting during the  
Battle of France, when he downed two enemy fighters.
As the Battle of Britain opened in July 1940, the squadron was  
operating Hurricanes from Biggin Hill and was soon involved in furious  
fighting. Flying three, sometimes four, times a day, Brothers shot  
down seven fighters and a bomber over Kent before the end of August.
On one occasion he returned home after a particularly difficult day to  
learn from his wife that a bomb splinter had come through an open  
window and shattered the mirror as she was applying her make-up. Years  
later he observed: "It was then that I decided the war had become  
personal."
Leading his flight of eight aircraft during one patrol, he encountered  
around 100 enemy bombers. He dived to attack them, but before he could  
open fire he was engaged by a number of Messerschmitt fighters.  
Despite being heavily outnumbered he was able to break away and close  
on a bomber, which he shot down. Later in the day, on a second sortie,  
he shot down a fighter.
In order to relax as he was returning from combat, Brothers would open  
the cockpit canopy and light up a cigarette. After a particularly  
exhausting day in late August, he woke the following morning to  
discover that a line of bomb craters crossed the officers' mess lawn a  
few yards from his bedroom and that there were many spent anti- 
aircraft shells scattered around the base. He had heard nothing.
By the end of August No 32 was reduced to eight pilots and was rested.  
Brothers was sent as a flight commander to No 257 Squadron, which had  
also suffered heavy losses and where morale was very low.
Between them, Brothers and the new CO, Squadron Leader Bob Stanford- 
Tuck, helped to restore the confidence of the inexperienced pilots.  
When he and his wingman jointly destroyed a bomber Brothers would not  
claim the victory for himself but insist that it was the work of his  
inexperienced colleague. On September 15, the climax of the battle,  
Brothers shot down two bombers over London. Two days earlier he had  
been awarded a DFC.
Peter Malam Brothers was born at Prestwich on September 30 1917 and  
educated at North Manchester School, a branch of Manchester Grammar  
School. When he was 16, and still at school, he learnt to fly at the  
Lancashire Aero Club and gained his civil pilot's "A" licence. He  
joined the RAF in 1936, trained as a pilot and joined No 32 Squadron  
at the end of the year to fly Gauntlet biplane fighters. He was to  
remain with the squadron for four years.
After the Battle of Britain, Brothers trained as a flying instructor  
and on promotion to squadron leader formed and commanded No 457 (RAAF)  
Squadron, flying Spitfires. On March 26 1942 he shot down a  
Messerschmitt Bf 109, and a month later probably downed another enemy  
fighter. In June he was given command of No 602 (City of Glasgow)  
Squadron, leading it during the ill-fated Dieppe raid in August. His  
pilots destroyed five enemy aircraft and he himself claimed a fighter.  
One of his pilots was forced to bail out over the sea, and Brothers  
orbited his dinghy until rescue arrived.
By now Brothers had been identified as one of the RAF's outstanding  
fighter pilots, and he was promoted to wing commander to lead the  
Tangmere Wing of three Spitfire squadrons.
He took them on sweeps deep into France as the RAF took the offensive  
to the Luftwaffe. During one of these operations, on January 26 1943,  
he shot down a Focke Wulf 190. In June he was awarded a Bar to his DFC  
and rested from operations.
In 1944 Brothers took command of the Exeter Wing, leading his six  
squadrons on attacks against transportation targets and enemy  
airfields on the Brest peninsula and in Normandy. Heavily involved in  
the lead-up to the Allied invasion in June 1944, his squadrons  
operated in support of the beachhead.
On August 7 he achieved his sixteenth and final success when he shot  
down a Focke Wulf 190 over the river Loire. Later he wrote of this  
period: "With great excitement we participated in the invasion of  
Europe, sweeping over the beaches and deep into France, top dogs now,  
hammering the enemy in the air and on the ground." He was awarded a  
DSO for his "courage and brilliant leadership".
After taking a staff course in the United States, Brothers served at  
the Central Fighter Establishment. Despite his outstanding war record,  
he was not offered a permanent commission in the peacetime RAF, and in  
1947 he left to join the Colonial Service. Two years as a district  
officer in Kenya, however, convinced him that this was not the life he  
wanted, and in 1949 he rejoined the RAF.
To his surprise, Brothers was posted to command a Lincoln bomber  
squadron, No 57. He flew operations during the Malayan Emergency, his  
being the first bomber squadron to participate in the campaign.
After attending the Staff College and serving at the headquarters of  
Fighter Command, he was appointed wing commander (flying) at Marham in  
Norfolk, where he flew the Valiant V-bomber. As a group captain he  
served in the plans division at Shape headquarters in Paris. On  
promotion to air commodore he commanded the headquarters of the  
Military Air Traffic Organisation.
In 1968 Brothers embarked on a five-year appointment as the RAF's  
director of public relations. This job was particularly demanding, and  
involved guiding and advising defence correspondents during the Cold  
War, when national security was paramount.
His success in winning the respect of the press and other media was  
due in part to his war record; but he was also an outstanding  
communicator, and his fine sense of humour, often directed at himself,  
helped him negotiate many difficult situations.
In 1964 he was appointed CBE. After leaving the RAF in 1973, he formed  
Peter Brothers Consultants, finally retiring in 1986.
Brothers was made a Freeman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air  
Navigators in 1966 and was a member of its technical committee and of  
its court. He was elected Master of the Guild in 1973-74. He gave  
great support to the Battle of Britain Fighter Association, being  
appointed its deputy chairman in 1993 and taking over as chairman 10  
years later. Brothers quickly brought his delightful sense of fun to  
the running of the association and led by example, attending a  
multitude of Battle of Britain commemorative events.
He was a great supporter of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust and  
campaigned for the monument on the Thames Embankment. He was also  
patron of the Spitfire Association of Australia and president of his  
local branch of the Air Crew Association at Hungerford, Berkshire.
When it was announced that RAF Bentley Priory, Fighter Command's  
headquarters during the Battle of Britain, was to close in 2008, he  
strongly supported the campaign to save the historic building,  
insisting: "This is our [the RAF's] home, as HMS Victory is for the  
Navy."
An inveterate cigar smoker and a connoisseur of malt whisky, Brothers  
was a keen golfer, sailor and fisherman, and a great raconteur.
Pete Brothers died on December 18. He married, in 1939, Annette  
Wilson, who died in 2005. Their two daughters survive him.

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