1. Minden Blake participated in the Battle of Britain in 1940 as acting commander of No 238 Squadron and then No 234 Squadron, destroying several German bombers.
46 Facts About Minden Blake
1. 2.
Minden Blake was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in January 1941.
3.
Minden Blake had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order just a few days previously.
4.
Minden Blake was an inventor, developing a golfing aid that was a commercial success.
5.
Minden Vaughan Blake was born in Eketahuna, in the Manawatu District of New Zealand on 13 February 1913.
6.
Minden Blake was heavily involved in sports, participating in cricket, soccer, and athletics.
7.
Minden Blake would go on to become national champion in the pole vault in 1936.
8.
Minden Blake was not selected and a subsequent attempt in 1936 was unsuccessful.
9.
Minden Blake spent much of 1936 as a lecturer in physics at the university and then applied to join the Royal Air Force under its university entrant scheme, intending to study engineering in England once he completed flying training.
10.
Minden Blake began his flying training late the following month at the Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School at Brough Aerodrome, in Yorkshire.
11.
Minden Blake was granted a permanent commission in the RAF as a pilot officer, with the service number 36095, in March 1937, at the conclusion of his course.
12.
Minden Blake was posted to No 5 Flying Training School at Sealand.
13.
Minden Blake completed his training a few months later and was posted to No 17 Squadron, which operated Gloster Gauntlet fighters from Kenley.
14.
In September 1937 Minden Blake was promoted to flying officer and became one of No 17 Squadron's flight commanders.
15.
In March 1939, Minden Blake received a further promotion, to flight lieutenant, and a few months later, the squadron moved to North Weald where it began converting to Hawker Hurricane fighters.
16.
Minden Blake remained active in pole vaulting, becoming the RAF champion three years running from 1937 to 1939.
17.
On 8 September 1939, a few days after the outbreak of the Second World War, Minden Blake suffered minor injuries in an aircraft accident.
18.
In doing so, the wing of his aircraft clipped the chimney of a building that Minden Blake failed to see due to the fading light.
19.
Minden Blake led the squadron into an engagement with Heinkel He 111 medium bombers over Kenley.
20.
Minden Blake destroyed one Minden Blake 111, the resulting wreckage crashing on an airfield in Sussex.
21.
Minden Blake, promoted to acting squadron leader, took over as commander of No 234 Squadron.
22.
Several Do 17s mounted an attack on Javelin but Minden Blake shot down two of these.
23.
Squadron Leader Minden Blake has displayed fine qualities of leadership and has personally destroyed five enemy aircraft.
24.
Minden Blake managed to destroy two of these but his Spitfire was damaged by enemy fire in the course of the encounter and he was forced to ditch in the English Channel.
25.
Minden Blake's aircraft sank before he could extricate himself but he was able to kick free and on reaching the surface inflated his emergency dinghy.
26.
Minden Blake paddled towards England for several hours before being picked by an Air Sea Rescue Services launch.
27.
Minden Blake continued as commander of the Portreath Wing into 1942 and when offensive fighter operations resumed in March, he led his wing on long-range patrols between Cherbourg and Brest.
28.
Minden Blake has rendered valuable service and his leadership has been of the highest order.
29.
Minden Blake, flying with the wing's No 130 Squadron, destroyed one Fw 190 but his own Spitfire was damaged.
30.
Minden Blake's canopy was shattered from a cannon shell impact, and shards of perspex entered his eyes.
31.
Minden Blake ditched his Spitfire in the English Channel, not far from the French coast, and took to his emergency dinghy.
32.
Minden Blake spent nearly a day in the dinghy until he was retrieved by a German rescue launch and made a prisoner of war.
33.
Minden Blake was the highest-ranking officer of the RAF to be captured as a result of the Dieppe Raid.
34.
Minden Blake made his way to a nearby French farmhouse where he sought treatment.
35.
Minden Blake spent most of the remainder of the war at Stalag Luft III, a POW camp located near Sagan, in Germany.
36.
In return, Minden Blake taught Trent basic gymnastic techniques, going as far to construct a set of parallel bars.
37.
Minden Blake returned with her to England to resume his career with the RAF.
38.
Minden Blake's following post was at Transport Command headquarters working on operational matters.
39.
Minden Blake remained keen on golf; when his fellow former POW Leonard Trent, assigned to Transport Command at the time, visited its headquarters he noted the presence of a practice pad in Blake's office.
40.
Minden Blake was in the running to make the British track and field team for the 1948 Summer Olympics.
41.
In 1950, Minden Blake switched to personnel duties, this time for Bomber Command.
42.
Minden Blake was an inveterate tinkerer and at his home in Surrey constructed a workshop to indulge his hobby.
43.
Minden Blake soon developed a golfing aid, the 'Swingrite': this used a weighted member pivotally mounted to the shaft of a golf club and tensioned by a spring, and was designed to rotate at a certain point as the club was swung.
44.
Minden Blake published books on golfing technique and advocated a new style of golf swing.
45.
Minden Blake died in Surrey on 30 November 1981, and was survived by his wife and two children.
46.
Minden Blake is credited with the destruction of thirteen aircraft, three of these being shared with other pilots.