Arthur Gerald Donahue, (29 January 1913 – 11 September 1942) was an American fighter pilot who volunteered to fly for the British

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was one of 11 American pilots who flew with

RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Britai ...

between 10 July and 31 October 1940, thereby qualifying for the Battle of Britain clasp to the 1939–45 campaign star. He was killed in action in September 1942.

Early life

Donahue was born to Frank and Ada Donahue on 29 January 1913 and was raised on a dairy farm near

St. Charles, Minnesota St. Charles is a city in Winona County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,735 at the 2010 census. It promotes itself as the gateway to Whitewater State Park, which is located north of the city on Minnesota State Highway 74. Histor ...

. He learned to fly as a teenager at the Conrad Flying Service, operated by

Max Conrad Max Arthur Conrad, Jr. (January 21, 1903 – April 3, 1979 in Summit, New Jersey) known as the "Flying Grandfather", was a record-setting aviator. In the 1950s and 1960s, he set nine official light plane world records, three of which still stan ...

, an aviator known as the "Flying Grandfather" who had set numerous world records for distance and endurance. Becoming Minnesota's youngest commercially certificated pilot at the age of 19, Donahue helped Conrad run the flight school until he left to enlist in the

. He traveled to Canada, claimed to be Canadian, and was accepted.Battle of Britain pilots biographies
/ref>

Royal Air Force service

After training with No. 7 Operational Training Unit, Donahue was assigned to No. 64 Squadron at

RAF Kenley The former Royal Air Force Station Kenley, more commonly known as RAF Kenley was an airfield station of the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and the RAF in the Second World War. It played a significant role during the Battle of Britain ...

on 3 August 1940. Two days later, he saw combat against

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...

s off the French coast, and suffered serious damage to his aircraft, forcing him to land at

RAF Hawkinge Royal Air Force Hawkinge or more simply RAF Hawkinge is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Ashford, north of Folkestone, Kent and west of Dover, Kent, England. The airfield was used by both the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal ...

. Donahue thus became one of ten Americans to fly for the RAF in the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

in 1940. A week later, on 12 August, Donahue was wounded in combat over England's south coast in his

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

Mk. I. He was forced to bail out of his burning aircraft, and suffered burns and leg injuries. On 29 September 1940, Donahue was reassigned to No. 71 Squadron, one of three

Eagle Squadrons The Eagle Squadrons were three fighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force (RAF) formed with volunteer pilots from the United States during the early days of World War II (circa 1940), prior to America's entry into the war in December 1941. Wit ...

, RAF units composed of American pilots, but did not see combat with that unit. Because of the lack of action, he requested to be reassigned to No. 64 Squadron, arriving back there on 23 October. In February 1941, Donahue served with No. 91 Squadron, although in March he went on leave back to the USA. In October 1941 he was posted to No. 258 Squadron in the Far East, and participated in the

Battle of Singapore The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of ...

, also seeing action over

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

in February 1942, where he was wounded by ground fire. After returning to England in mid-1942, he rejoined No 91 Squadron as a flight commander. He became the first American in RAF history to lead an all-English squadron. He was credited with downing two enemy aircraft, with two more probables and one damaged. He was awarded four medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross on 27 March 1942.Commonwealth War Graves Commission
/ref> The citation for the award read:London Gazette 27 March, 1942
/ref>

Death

Flight Lieutenant Donahue was killed in action on 11 September 1942, while a member of No. 91 Squadron. Attempting to intercept a

Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast f ...

, his plane was hit by return fire and ditched in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. His body was never found."First hero: St. Charles man an early WWII hero" ''Winona Daily News'', 11 November 2006
/ref> Donahue once wrote in a letter to his parents, "My life may not be long, but it will be wide." He is commemorated on the

Air Forces Memorial The Air Forces Memorial, or Runnymede Memorial, in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England is a memorial dedicated to some 20,456 men and women from air forces of the British Empire who were lost in air and other operations during World War ...

at Runnymede in Surrey, England.

Author

Donahue wrote two books about his RAF service, ''Tally-Ho! Yankee in a Spitfire'' and ''Last Flight from Singapore''.

References

Bibliography

* Donahue, Arthur Gerald. (1944). ''Last Flight from Singapore''. London: Macmillan & Company. * * Kershaw, Alex. (2006). ''The Few''. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press.

External links

Art Donahue at Find a grave''4th Fighter Group WWII'' Official WWII Association Website
Referenced 4 March 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Donahue, Art 1913 births 1942 deaths American World War II flying aces Aviators from Minnesota Aviators killed by being shot down Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II People from St. Charles, Minnesota Military personnel from Minnesota Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force officers American Royal Air Force pilots of World War II The Few 20th-century American memoirists American military writers Writers from Minnesota