A Spitfire Pilot's Story: Pat Hughes: Battle of Britain Top Gun

by Dennis Newton

  The eleventh baby, Eliza, was born on 8 June 1819 and was baptised at St Philip’s in Sydney the following 14 September. John and the family seem to have fallen on difficult times since leaving Prospect and the 1819 muster of freemen in the Sydney district lists him as working as a ‘labourer’, although the following year he was described once more as a ‘gardener’.

  In another memorial to Governor Macquarie in 1820, John applied for a new grant of land. In it he indicated that the largeness of his family, whom he had always supported without help from the Government Store, had placed him in humble circumstances. Justice of the Peace William Cowper signed the document and added, ‘I believe this Petitioner to be an industrious man.’ It was noted that John was the holder of four acres of land in the district of Sydney; Governor Macquarie promised to grant him eighty acres.

  Though Parramatta Road was the only land route from Sydney until the coming of the railway in 1855, in the early days people bound for Parramatta had the choice of coach or ferry. The ferry was more popular and enjoyable. The first travellers to Parramatta came via the river. The keel of a boat intended for a regular Parramatta service was laid late in 1788. Launched the following year, she was named the Rose Hill Packet, but was better known unofficially as ‘the Lump’. A regular service on the river seems to have been established in 1793. The fare was one shilling per passenger. Those who were sufficiently affluent could hire the boat for six shillings.

  Meanwhile, a path or track to Rose Hill, later Parramatta, was formed shortly after the settlement was founded. In 1794 came the first attempt to make a proper road. This thoroughfare did not exactly follow the present line, but swept south of it from about Homebush to Granville. The next attempt at road building was in 1797 when a new line was formed, this time practically identical with the present road. The settlers were required to find the necessary labour. It was stated in 1805 that the road had become impassable and a public meeting was held to consider the question of repairing it. In 1806, a notice appeared in the Sydney Gazette:

  In consequence of the bad state of the roads leading from Sydney to Parramatta, and the danger of horses being lamed in the deep ruts near Sydney, it is hereby decided that all public and private carts and waggons passing that road (not otherwise loaded) do take a load of brickbats from the brickfields and drop them in the places appointed by the Overseer of Roads.

  After Governor Macquarie arrived orders were given for the reconstruction of the road. Since that time the road has been remade repeatedly – the newspapers for over a century were loud in their complaints.

  As early as 1803 efforts were made to establish a regular transportation system to Parramatta by means of a stage wagon. The attempt appears to have failed, and in 1805 one William Roberts made an attempt to run a stage wagon on the road. Fares for passengers were fixed at five shillings.

  In his memorial to the governor, John gave his residence as the Five Mile Stone on the Parramatta Road. The NSW Calendar and Directories of 1832 gives an itinerary of roads and located the ‘Cheshire Cheese’ Public House on the right side, presumably the southern side, of Parramatta Road at the five-mile mark. McCaffery’s History of Illawarra noted:

  On board the First Fleet there were people of mixed trades, professions and callings. Just to mention four names, viz: John Moss, Edward Pugh, John Nicholls, and Rebecca Poulton. These people settled in time in Windsor, Parramatta, and at the Cheshire Cheese Hotel.

  The muster of 1821 again showed John as a landholder and, in the same year, it was recorded that a grant of 100 acres was promised to him in the County of Cumberland, Parish of Saint George. The muster for the following year showed that he had eighty acres in the Sydney district at Petersham. Four acres had been cleared and another four acres were under cultivation as gardens and an orchard but he was not residing on the property. As well, he had livestock consisting of fourteen cows and a hog, and a convict assigned to work for him.

  Sarah, John and Ann’s twelfth child, was born around April 1822. Just eight months later, John passed away on Christmas Day. His burial service was performed at St Philip’s Church in Sydney and he was buried at the Devonshire Street Cemetery, Surry Hills, a mile and a quarter from the centre of town.

  Where this cemetery once stood, part of Sydney’s huge Central Railway Station stands now. The locality was described in An Illustrated Guide to Sydney 1882:

  Redfern railway terminus fronts the corner of Devonshire and George Streets, the workshops and engine shed being placed near the eastern boundary of the ground. In Devonshire Street the second oldest general cemetery is situated, but it is now closed except to those who acquired a right to bury there before the Necropolis at Rookwood was established. The familiar names of many pioneer colonists are here recorded, forming a numerous contingent to that great army already passed into the Silent Land.

  On John’s headstone were the words, ‘Sacred to the memory of John Nicholds who departed this life 24th December 1822 aged 67 years’. When Central Station became Sydney’s railway terminus, the cemetery was moved to various other locations; Central Railway Station opened on the site on 4 August 1906.

  Half of John Nichols’ life had been spent in the colony. In those thirty-four years he had grasped with both hands the new start that transportation had forced on him in this unknown and foreign place so far away from London and the Old Bailey across the world. It had all started back there so many years ago. In those years, he had witnessed the beginning of the penal colony’s transition into a living, breathing settlement that initiated its own growth and expanded at an accelerating rate. It was spreading to the north from the coal seams of Newcastle at the mouth of the Hunter River; it was sailing eastwards out through the Heads and across the globe, trading with the Old World, the Far East and the New; it was expanding westward beyond the old Blue Mountains barrier into the great plains around Bathurst and the Macquarie River; and it was pushing south along the coast into the Illawarra while at the same time Parramatta-born ‘currency lad’ Hamilton Hume and English settler William Hovell were setting out to explore the inland way south. In those years, John too had been transformed – from a convicted felon into an independent, respected pioneer farmer. He had prospered through his own hard work. He had experienced the growing pains of the colony with its revolts, and the harsh realities of its droughts and flooding rains. He had suffered the degradation of financial decline and moved beyond it towards recovery. And, along the way, he had earned the trust and respect of his peers.

  The embryo of a new country was stirring. The work was just beginning, but John’s contribution had been made and his days of toil were over.

  Today, the lives of John Nichols and his family are regularly commemorated throughout Australia by generations of his descendents in the John Nichols Society.

  *

  It is tempting to speculate if Pat Hughes was aware of how close he was to his great-great-grandfather’s original place of rest on the evening of 17 January 1936. Pat was at Sydney’s Central Railway Station rushing to board the 8.20 p.m. train, The ‘Limited’, to travel to Melbourne, Victoria. Most unlikely. He was on his way to join the Royal Australian Air Force as a cadet at Point Cook, south-west of Melbourne on Port Phillip Bay.

  His mind was likely on too many other things.

  *

  Pat Hughes was a direct descendant of Amelia Nichols, John and Ann Nichols’ seventh child.

  Amelia had been eleven when her father died at Sydney on Christmas Day 1822. She seems to have accompanied her sister Sophia and her husband, Alexander Philp, when they moved north to Newcastle in the middle of 1826. Alexander was a witness at her marriage to Charles Hughes on 23 July 1827 at Christ Church Newcastle. Alexander may have been the one who gave the necessary permission for Amelia to wed as she was still only sixteen.

  Probably of Welsh origin and born about 1798, Charles Hughes had been charged with ‘felonious assault on the King’s highway’ at the Old Bailey on 15 January 1817. In reality, he had p
icked somebody’s pocket and stolen his watch and chain. For this he was sentenced to death, but this was commuted to transportation for life. Charles arrived in New South Wales on the Larkins on 22 November 1817. In early 1819, he was sent to Newcastle, the harsh penal settlement at the mouth of the Hunter River. There the convicts worked long hours mostly mining coal, felling timber and manufacturing lime from sea shells. On one occasion he received twenty-five lashes for gambling but his overall diligence and good behaviour in this difficult place attracted the approval of those in authority. Over time, he was appointed to the position of assistant pilot, the highly responsible job of guiding shipping through the treacherous, shifting sandbars of Newcastle harbour. As well, he was recommended for the salary of overseer.

  Charles received his ‘ticket-of-leave’ on 31 May 1827. These were usually given to prisoners with life sentences after they had served eight years with one master, the approximate time Charles spent at Newcastle as Assistant Pilot. He could now acquire property and be self-employed – it was the first step towards independence for a reforming character.

  Amelia and Charles married two months later. Neither could read or write their own their name. Although Charles later learned to form a crude signature, his near-illiteracy created huge difficulties in business. The couple’s first child, a boy, was born on 20 May 1828 and, just over six years later on 10 July 1834, Charles received his conditional pardon. This removed his obligation to remain in the Newcastle area. Having no trade qualifications and little education, his opportunities were limited. Inn-keeping was an accepted way for ex-convicts to enter into the world of business. With a young, growing family to support, Charles paid £25 for a publican’s licence for the Australian Inn on 30 June 1836. This was an established public house in Hunter Street, Newcastle, near the wharf. During his working life Charles became the licensee of several inns in Newcastle, Maitland and Black Creek (now Branxton) up to 1851 but his inability to read and write fluently placed him at the mercy of literate traders.

  Charles and Amelia’s eighth child was born at Black Creek on 12 September 1849 at a time the district began to suffer from the effects of a devastating drought. Their older children received schooling at Maitland, and in Black Creek the younger ones attended a small private school. Their sons began to work at an early age and Charles lived to see his four oldest children marry local settlers.

  After suffering for six months from cancer of the stomach, Charles died at Branxton on 8 January 1869, aged seventy-one. Amelia lived on at Branxton for another fifteen years; she saw the marriages of her two younger children and the births of thirty-six of her fifty grandchildren. She died from acute kidney failure on 25 June 1884, aged seventy-three, and was buried with Charles in Branxton cemetery, an imposing stone marking their final resting place.

  Jane Hughes, who was Charles and Amelia’s third child and first daughter, coincidentally married John Hughes, who was no relation, in 1850. They had nine children.

  *

  Paterson (Percy) Hughes was born in 1894. He left home at the age of sixteen.

  APPENDIX 2

  PAT HUGHES’ RECORD OF SERVICE

  With the kind permission of Pat Hughes’ brother, the late Bill Hughes of Beacon Hill, Sydney, NSW, documentation of his service obtained from the Ministry of Defence and Public Record Office, London, is reproduced here.

  RECORD OF SERVICE

  OF

  FLIGHT LIEUTENANT PATERSON CLARENCE HUGHES DFC (39461)

  DATE OF BIRTH: 19 September 1917

  PREVIOUS SERVICE:

  Air Cadet, Royal Australian Air Force 20.1.36

  Discharged 9.1.37

  APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS:

  Granted a Short Service Commission as Pilot Officer in the General Duties

  Branch of the Royal Air Force for 5 years 19.2.37

  Flying Officer 19.11.38

  Acting Flight Lieutenant 8.11.39

  Flight Lieutenant 3.9.40

  Killed (Flying Battle) 7.9.40

  POSTINGS:

  1 Flying Training School, Point Cook: Flying training 31. 1. 36 to 8.12.36

  R.A.F. Depot Supernumerary 19.2.37

  2 Flying Training Flying training with Advanced Training Squadron 27.2.37

  64 (Fighter) Squadron Flying Duties 22.5.37

  234 Squadron Flying Duties 8.11.39

  247 Squadron Temporary Duties 1.8.40

  HONOURS, AWARDS AND MEDALS:

  Distinguished Flying Cross London Gazette 22.10.40

  Awarded Flying Badge (Royal Australian Air Force) 8.12.36

  1939/45 Star with Battle of Britain Clasp

  Aircrew Europe Star

  War Medal 1939/45

  APPENDIX 3

  COMBAT CLAIMS

  This list is compiled from direct reference to Combat Reports and the Operations Record Book of 234 Squadron RAF.

  1940

  8 July 1 Ju 88 Shared

  27 July 1 Ju 88 (Unconfirmed) Shared

  28 July 1 Ju 88 (Confirmed) Shared

  15 August 1 Me 110

  15 August 1 Me 110 Shared with P/O Doe

  16 August 2 Me 109s

  18 August 2 Me 109s

  26 August 2 Me 109s

  4 September 3 Me 110s

  5 September 2 Me 109s

  6 September 1 Me 109

  1 Me 109 (Probable)

  7 September 1 Do 17 (Combat report of wingman)

  TOTAL: 14 confirmed, 1 probable, 3 shared, 1 shared unconfirmed.

  APPENDIX 4

  DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS

  Acting Flight Lieutenant Paterson Clarence HUGHES 39461 (since killed).

  This officer has led his flight with skill and determination. He has displayed gallantry in his attacks on the enemy and has destroyed seven of their aircraft.

  London Gazette, 22 October 1940

  The citation for this award seems very Spartan in its formal brevity and underestimation. It should be realised, however, that in reality the citation is unfinished. The man preparing it, Squadron Leader Joseph ‘Spike’ O’Brien, was killed on the same day as Pat, and in the same battle. He had personally known Pat for only three short, hectic weeks. How much he was aware of Pat’s earlier work is a subject for speculation.

  After three days of the heaviest fighting he had been so impressed with his flight commander’s achievements (six, and very likely seven, victories) that he decided to put pen to paper – but he didn’t finish. He didn’t have time.

  ABBREVIATIONS AND RANKS

  AAF Auxiliary Air Force (RAF)

  AASF Advanced Air Striking Force (RAF)

  AFC Air Force Cross, also Australian Flying Corps

  AFLT Acting Flight Lieutenant

  AI Aircraft Interception

  AIF Australian Imperial Force

  ASF Australian Striking Force (AIF)

  AVM Air Vice Marshal

  AWM Australian War Memorial

  BBC British Broadcasting Corporation

  BEF British Expeditionary Force

  CFS Central Flying School

  CSIR Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research

  DFC Distinguished Flying Cross

  DP Death Presumed

  DSO Distinguished Service Order

  EFTS Elementary Flying Training School

  FIU Fighter Interception Unit

  F/Lt Flight Lieutenant

  F/O Flying Officer

  JG Jagdgeschwader = fighter wing

  KG Kampfgeschwader = bomber wing

  KIA Killed in Action

  LAC Leading Aircraftman

  MID Mentioned in Dispatches

  MU Medically Unfit

  NCO Non Commissioned Officer

  OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht = Armed Force Supreme Command (German)

  ORB Operations Record Book

  OUT Operational Training Unit

  PC Permanent Commission

  P/O Pilot Officer

  PDU Photographic Development Unit

  POW Prisoner of War<
br />
  PRO Public Record Office (London), now National Archives

  PRU Photographic Reconnaissance Unit

  RAAF Royal Australian Air Force

  RAF Royal Air Force

  RAFVR Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

  RAN Royal Australian Navy

  RCAF Royal Canadian Air Force

  RFC Royal Flying Corps

  RN Royal Navy

  RNAS Royal Naval Air Service

  RNZAF Royal New Zealand Air Force

  SSC Short Service Commission

  St Staffel = Squadron

  S/Ldr Squadron Leader

  ZG Zerstorergeschwader = destroyer wing

  The following list of Luftwaffe and RAF rank equivalents is necessarily approximate in certain cases: various German ranks existed which have no exact British parallel.

  Flieger Aircraftman (2)

  Gefreiter Aircraftman (1)

  Obergefreiter Leading Aircraftman

  Hauptgefreiter Corporal

  Unteroffizier Sergeant

  Unterfeldwebel

  Feldwebel Flight Sergeant

  Oberfeldwebel Warrant Officer

  Stabsfeldwebel

  Leutnant Pilot Officer

  Oberleutnant Flying Officer

  Hauptmann Flight Lieutenant

  Major Squadron Leader

  Oberstleutnant Wing Commander

  Oberst Group Captain

  Generalmajor Air Commodore

  Generalleutnant Air Vice Marshal

  General Air Marshal

  Generaloberst Air Chief Marshal

  Generalfeldmarschall

  Reichsmarschall Marshal of the Air Force

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Air Ministry, The Battle of Britain — an air ministry account of the great days from August 8 to October 31, 1940 (Ministry of Information, London, 1941)

  Baff, F/Lt K. C., Maritime is Number Ten (Baff, Netley, South Australia, 1983)

  Barker, Ralph, Aviator Extraordinary (Chatto & Windus, London, 1969)

  Bateson, Charles, The Convict Ships 1787–1868 (A. H. & A. W. Reed, Sydney, 1974)